Only the Beginning
by Kita1
Summary: After Rayearth ends, the torch is passed to a new trio of Knights who are sent to Cephiro's past. COMPLETE! Fear and betrayal can be transformed into courage and love, but sacrifice is always required. Is any sacrifice too great to save the world?
1. If I Fell

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hi again, everyone. Whether you're starting this story for the first time or have already plunged in, I would like to welcome you to "Only the Beginning," and I'd also like to thank you for your time and support as you read.**

**I really like this story. I've been working on it since my sophomore year of high school... and now I'm in college, and I'm still not quite finished with it! I feel that this story really shows my transition from a fanfic author into a serious writer. It's a treasure to me, and I hope it will be a treasure to you as well.**

**I have been going through the entire peice and re-working it, re-formatting it, and just making it better overall. What you have been reading was the rough draft; now I present to you a more polished version. I have re-posted chapters 1 through 5, and hopefully the others will be up soon as well.**

**I hope you enjoy what I've spent the better part of four years on. Remember, I'm crazy about feedback, be it praise or criticism. Also, please invite your friends to read my story as well.**

**Lastly, here is the obligatory disclaimer, and this applies to the entire piece: I do not own Magic Knight Rayearth. I only own my original characters, and woe to the person who takes them as their own.**

* * *

Chapter one… _If I Fell_

_Where am I? I know I'm somewhere. There's no such thing as nowhere… is there? I'm so confused. I'm floating. It's dark. I don't think I'd recognize my surroundings even if I could see them._

_What if there aren't any surroundings to not recognize? What if it isn't really dark, it's just empty and void? What if I'm floating in a black hole? What if—_

A series of loud wails.

_The heck? What's that?_

Like the cries of anguished souls, but somehow… fixed, mechanical… beeping?

_Eternal black hole limbo voids don't go beep… do they?_

Klaxons keeping a steady rhythm, piercing, painfully annoying to hear.

_It sounds strangely like… like…_

"…like my clock." Mako finished the last half of the sentence out loud. The darkness evaporated, and the persistent beep grew even louder as his consciousness increased. At last, he achieved enough sense to roll over and turn the dratted thing off. The sudden silence left in the alarm's wake left his ears ringing for a second. He lay still, seriously considering going back to sleep, when his door opened.

"Mako! Hey, Mako, get up!"

"Leave me alone," Mako muttered, even though all hopes of blissful alarm-ignoring sleep had just been sliced to ribbons.

Riuki giggled from the doorway. "You're so cute when you're sleeping," she crooned sweetly.

"And you'd be cute with your face plastered to a wall. Get out." Mako rolled over on his other side, facing the wall. "I mean it."

"Oh, c'mon," Riuki persisted, sounding as if Mako had just cancelled Christmas, "you _have_ to get up, or we'll be late. Don't you remember? You promised you'd walk with me today!"

Mako had to think about this one. When did he ever say that? Maybe last night… he and his sister had been playing cards, and he hadn't been listening to whatever it was she'd been saying, he'd just been nodding and saying "uh-huh" whenever she stopped for breath…

Riuki, ever the morning person, sat on the bed with him. "You have to. Come on, please?"

"Riuki, don't you have your own friends to hang out with?"

"Well—of course I do—but they're not as cool as you."

"I'm flattered. Leave me alone."

Riuki sighed. "You said you would, though." She began bouncing. "So-I'll-just-have-to-do-this-until-you-get-up," she added, one word on each rebound.

Mako groaned into his pillow, then sat up and pushed her off. "Alright! But I can't get up if you're doing that. Go grab something to eat, and I'll be ready by the time you're done." It was enough to shoo Riuki out of the room and grant Mako enough privacy to get dressed, though nearly not enough time; Riuki ate almost as quickly as she talked. Almost.

* * *

Mako Keines was fourteen. He also happened to be average. Halfway between tall and short for his age, ordinary build, right-handed, chestnut hair that never laid flat, and blue eyes—average, yes. Mediocre, no. At least, that's what he told himself every day to keep himself motivated as he strived for perfection—because, after all, he was a perfectionist of the worst sort.

Average, yes. Mediocre, no.

This is what he demanded of himself. Mako Keines would not tolerate mediocrity, partly because he knew he had potential; people told him he had potential all the time. He was quick-witted, intelligent. He made people laugh. He was creative.

However, he was also average.

Mostly, though, it was simply the fact that even the word itself—_mediocrity_— implied room for improvement, implied weakness. He hated that thought, and so he worked to slaughter every scrap of _mediocrity_ he could find within himself. He placed high on tests. He'd made the soccer team. He could play the harmonica with both his mouth and nose. He was becoming the Mediocrity Slayer.

Of course, even a perfectionist is allowed a small life. Two of his favorite things to ever be created were sleep, which seemed to be getting more and more elusive as his hunt for perfection dragged on, and late-night card tournaments with his sister. Riuki Keines was a card master, with talent (and luck) enough to put adults to shame; she rarely lost anything she played… but her skills were put to the test when she and Mako began a furious one-on-one game and lost track of time, and when the clock was straining towards three in the morning (at which time Riuki would nearly begin dozing in her chair), Mako at least had a _chance_ of winning.

This morning's performance hadn't been a usual occurrence. True, Riuki, who bore strong family resemblance to him, was his junior by just over a year, and she was an obnoxiously chipper loudmouth, and her obsession with strawberry-flavored candy had started to make her brother wonder if she wasn't a little insane, but she was his sister, and she wasn't bad company. It had been she, after all, who had come up with the "average, yes, mediocre, no" slogan.

Today they walked together, as promised, to a field trip, the last one of the year, a day trip to Tokyo Tower.

Riuki hummed a little to herself, soaking in the glory of the morning. Mako didn't hum or soak. He was too busy trying to remember the dream he'd been having when Riuki woke him up.

It had something to do with an eternal black hole limbo void.

* * *

At about the same time Mako and Riuki left the Keines residence, a girl was still at home some distance away, staring darkly into her mirror, searching her reflection as if searching for a glimpse of her soul. Her finger traced the outline of her pale, but still lovely, face dejectedly.

Why should she even leave the apartment this morning? What good would she be to anyone?

_None at all,_ she decided, dropping her hand. Her hair, honey-blonde and perfectly straight, hanging halfway down her back, rippled with the movement of her arm. _I just won't go. I'll say I'm feeling ill._

Sighing, she turned from her reflection and turned to leave.

She could say she was sick all she wanted to, she could decide to never leave her room again, she could begin packing her things to run into the wilderness and never return, but she knew she could never pluck up the courage to carry these schemes out. Keilin Makawa stepped into the sunshine drowning the street, but on the retinas of her heart, the golden beams of morning registered as darkness. Just like everything else.

_Is there no point to anything?_

* * *

"Li! I'm _serious!"_ shouted a voice from down the hall. "I'm leaving—are you listening?—I'm _leaving_ in thirty seconds and if you're not in the car by then, you can just run!"

"I'm almost ready! Just hang on a second!" a redheaded girl bawled as she hastily straightened the bow on her uniform with one hand and smoothed her wrinkled skirt with the other. The front door slammed shut; Li Kimoi gave a cry of desperation as she dove for her schoolbag, remembered she didn't need it, slid her shoes on, and positively flew outside, where her brother's car was pulling away in almost a threatening manner.

"Wait!" she screeched, flinging herself in the passenger's side.

Her brother gave an irritated grunt, running one hand through his dark hair. "Whatever happened to 'I'll be ready on time, I swear'?" he asked as he straightened the car and went from reverse to drive.

Li, struggling to collect her wits, slumped back against the seat. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she snapped, folding her arms sharply. "I just overslept!"

"Like yesterday."

"You didn't wake me up yesterday! Your fault!"

"And the day before that?"

"My alarm was broken," Li retorted defensively, feeling close to tears.

Her brother scented the danger of hysterics and didn't press the matter further. "I should have just gone without you," he muttered, more to himself than to her.

Li knew better than to shrug that comment off. More than once she had been seen soaring down the street, having been left behind after failing to get herself ready to face the day on time. Resigning to silent pouting, she checked her brick-red, shoulder-length hair in the rearview mirror, and then settled back into her seat.

It was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Riuki leaned as far over the railing as she dared to. "Mako! Mako, c'mere, the sky's just gorgeous, oh, come on…" She continued on like this until her older brother had joined her at the railing. "See those clouds? They're changing shape—oh, look at the city, it's really beautiful from up here!"

"Riuki," Mako cut in, "take a breath before you pass out and fall."

Riuki summoned her most irresistibly charming smile. "If I fell, you'd catch me, wouldn't you?"

Without waiting to hear Mako's answer, she folded her arms on the metal bar and rested her chin on them, gazing out over the city. "I wish every morning was like this one."

"I wish you'd find some way of being quiet for once," Mako blurted, then instantly regretted it. When she looked at him unhappily, he added, "Stillness enhances the view," hoping she would not hold it against him.

Comprehension dawned on Riuki's pretty face; she turned back to the horizon and froze, saying nothing as she contentedly absorbed the view.

Different classes behind them, some from their school but most from others, didn't seem to be thinking among those same lines. The noise swelled until silencing Riuki had hardly been worthwhile. Other students were steadily joining the ones at the railing. Mako found his attention drifting from the sky and the clouds to the people he didn't recognize.

A girl with flaming-red hair stood at Mako's right side, muttering to herself and apparently not appreciating the view in the slightest, while others shrieked with glee as they dropped spitwads over the side, and still others simply formed small, closed circles, chatting happily. Only one other besides the redhead stood alone, a tall, pale blonde, leaning against a far wall with her arms folded and eyes half-closed.

And then she looked up, as if she could sense Mako's eyes on her.

Not wanting to look as if he had been staring at her, he looked back to the redhead, but she had raised her eyes as well.

For one split second, these three stared at each other.

And then light flooded Mako's eyes, bright as the sun, blinding, almost painful— he couldn't see at all—he raised his arm to shield his eyes, but that did absolutely nothing to help—

The voice that cried out was pure and sweet, sad, desperate, and haunting:

_"Magic Knights! Please—oh, please—you must come! You must come and fulfill that which you were destined to do—you must come and save our world!"_

The light grew, if possible, even brighter, piercing his eyelids, which were clamped firmly shut—and, to his horror, Mako felt the floor under his feet vanish, and he was falling, surely he was going to hit the street, he was headed straight for the pavement, Riuki's words were ringing oddly in his ears—"If I fell, you'd catch me, wouldn't you?"—his dream came back to him, and he recognized the feeling of drowning in an eternal black hole limbo void, but this time with no harsh beep from his alarm to save him from its unfathomable depths.


	2. High Something Banter

Chapter two… _High Something Banter_

"Hey… wake up!"

"You awake?"

"You even alive?"

"C'mon, this isn't funny, please wake up, you have to."

Riuki? She couldn't tell him what he can and cannot do, especially not when he was sleeping… couldn't she see that he was in no mood to play cards right now?

"Get up."

That persistent voice, the equivalent of an alarm clock's never-ending rhapsody of dream-shattering beeps. A hand on his shoulder, forcing his senses to sharpen.

The blackness was receding little by little. No hope of falling back asleep now. He wrenched his eyes open.

The first thing that registered on his dimly conscious mind was the fact that his entire body hurt as if he'd just been beaten with sticks. Not poked or tapped—_beaten_. He could hardly move without sending networks of pain all throughout his limbs.

Next, he saw that the face above him, slightly blurry but still visible, was not Riuki's. Whoever she was, though, she seemed oddly familiar.

"Thank God," the girl said, sitting back on her heels and studying him.

Mako didn't try to sit up, only laid there, wondering why he was smelling grass and not his own blood splattered over forty feet of pavement and two lanes' worth of cars. Maybe he was dead. That would explain a lot. He was dead and had passed on into—

"Hey, are you okay?" The girl's voice interrupted his train of thought. So much like Riuki, wouldn't let him think, maybe she _was_ Riuki and he just hadn't recognized her… That thought pushed him up, made him sit straight, held his tongue while pain sizzled on each nerve…

But it wasn't Riuki who sat before him. Just the oddly familiar face who, by now, had wrapped her arms around her knees and was shivering, even though the temperature of the air was easily around 70 degrees. He couldn't think straight. Where was Riuki? Who was this girl anyway? What had even happened? Pieces of questions chased each other throughout his hazy mind, unable to rearrange themselves into intelligible sentences.

The girl's frightened face softened. "Y-you're bleeding, you know." This statement went right over Mako's head as if she had just begun speaking in a different language. He stared at her, trying his hardest to make something, anything, come out of his mouth.

He failed.

The girl huddled before him was perhaps about his age. She wore a dull gray skirt and a red cardigan, which her shoulder-length, twig-leaf-and-dirt-encrusted hair matched perfectly in hue. She was pale with fright. "You _are_ okay, right?" she asked again, and when he didn't answer, she pulled a tissue from the sleeve of her cardigan. "Here. At least clean the blood off. I don't think it's that bad." She handed it to him, and he wiped the corner of his mouth absently. There wasn't much to clean; he must have simply bit his lip when he hit the ground.

The girl watched him for a few seconds before an idea seemed to come to her. "Do you speak English?" she asked. After another moment's pause, she asked the same question in about three other languages with slow and careful pronunciation, her tongue fumbling over the unfamiliar words.

Something clicked in Mako's brain. This girl had been standing next to him. She had looked at him. And then the light—whatever that light was—had exploded around him.

"Y-you," Mako stuttered finally.

The girl blinked, no more or less terrified than she had been moments ago. "English?" she said, and then, "Good, 'cause that's all I really know."

"You," Mako repeated, feeling foolish but not able to add anything else to his monologue.

The girl shivered again. "You were at Tokyo Tower," she said. "I remember. I saw you."

"Light," Mako managed. Images floated in his memory like pieces of driftwood, but he had a hard time piecing them together. "You, light, falling," he murmured, unable to piece these into a better sentence.

"If you're making a comment about my weight," the girl said after a moment's consideration, "that's very flattering, but I don't even know who you are—"

"I saw you!" Mako blurted. The wires in his brain had started to hook back together. Speech was beginning to make sense again. He continued. "I saw you, and then that light, and then falling…"

Fear flickered into the girl's eyes. "You saw it, too?" She paused. "Did—did you hear a voice?"

Mako nodded solemnly.

"Magic Knights," the girl recalled, mostly to herself, "you must come… save our world… What was that even about?"

"I don't know…" Mako trailed off, and the girl did not speak further, so he used the lull in the conversation to look around him. He couldn't see Tokyo Tower anywhere. In fact, the surrounding buildings and even the road had vanished. Behind him, maybe two hundred or so yards away, lay the ocean, sparkling more like a rolling sheet of pure sapphires than water. He and this girl, whoever she was, were sitting just inside a stretch of trees, and far off over her shoulder he saw a range of mountains. Which range, he couldn't say; they were completely unfamiliar, offering no clue as to his location. The air was warm, but not overbearingly so, and it carried a fresh hint of flowers in full bloom, though he couldn't tell which kind of flower it was. The sky above, as blue as the sea, hosted an occasional fat, puffy cloud, drifting lazily, in no hurry to disappear or even to change shape. And right next to the cloud that almost resembled Riuki's old stuffed bear was—

Mako shook his head and looked again, sure he was just imagining things, but it was still there the second time, and again the third.

The girl eyed him strangely. "What's the matter?"

Mako didn't answer right away. Eventually, he nodded his head toward the sky. "There's an island floating up there."

The girl turned over her shoulder. Mako waited for a gasp of surprise or both hands to clap over her mouth, but she simply turned back to him and shrugged. "I've seen it. I thought maybe I'd been knocked senseless when I fell, and maybe I was seeing mirages or something. But," she added, and her face fell, "if you can see it too, then that means it's really there."

"Wherever 'there' is," Mako said, still wondering if it really was an _island_ in the sky, or if he was just having an extremely weird dream. "I'm having a hard time believing we're still near Tokyo Tower."

"Did we even survive the fall?" the girl asked, and Mako shrugged. "You've got me there." They lapsed into silence again.

"I'm Li," she said suddenly, as if the prospect of being dead was an event for formal introductions. "Li Kimoi. I'm fourteen."

Mako turned the name over in his mind, but he'd never heard it before. "Mako Keines," he answered, and she nodded. "I'll remember that."

"Are we the only ones from the Tower here?" he asked after a second.

"I think so," Li answered, looking around as if there might be someone else sitting by a tree that she had missed. "When I woke up, I saw you lying about twenty feet to my left."

"So Riuki's not here," Mako mused. Did that mean she was alright? What if she was grievously injured but still alive? What if—

He lost his train of thought again as Li gave a sudden, completely out-of-place giggle.

"Who's Riuki? Your girlfriend?" For the first time, her eyes began to sparkle with mirth, as if they had thrown off the heavy cloak of fear and uncertainty to reveal their shining selves. Never having been accused of dating his sister before, Mako stared at her in disgust before realizing that she didn't even know who Riuki was.

He didn't know why this surprised him.

"She's my sister," he said flatly, and Li stopped mid-giggle. Her face flushed ever so slightly. "Oh. I thought…"

"Forget it," Mako said, shaking his head.

"So you were hoping she'd be here?" Li asked, shifting positions and sitting cross-legged. "Are you two close?"

"I guess so." He'd never really thought about it before, and he didn't feel like starting now; he wanted to find out where they were, and what on earth they were doing there, and what that voice had meant when it said to do what they were destined to do…

Li's eyes had dimmed somewhat. "That's nice," she said blandly.

Immediately, Mako heard the sound of crunching leaves, a snapping twig: someone approaching from deeper within the trees.

He got to his feet, and Li followed suit, staring at him in curiosity. "What is it?"

Mako shook his head to silence her. He expected the crunching humus to stop, to move away from them… but instead, the outline of a man appeared between two strong oaks, clearly headed straight for them.

Mako felt a strange sense of foreboding. In one fluid motion, he stepped in front of Li. "If he turns out to be hostile, run," he muttered. Li didn't answer.

The man stepped into the light. He was extremely tall, so much so that Mako had to crane his neck up to see his face, which had well-defined features: strong chin, stern mouth, dark eyes. His hair was black as a raven's wing, pulled into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck; his forehead was covered by bangs long enough to reach his eyes. His robes—for that seemed to be what he was wearing—were blood-red, embroidered with the finest silver that absolutely shone even though woven into the fabric. He was carrying a girl in his arms; her sheet of honey-colored hair hanging over his elbow rippled with every movement he made. She was unconscious.

_Where have I seen her before?_ Mako wondered.

The man in robes stopped just five feet from them. Mako and Li stood staring defiantly up at him, and he towered over them, studying them as though he had _known_ he was going to happen across two lost and disoriented fourteen-year-olds stranded in an unfamiliar place after falling into an eternal black hole limbo void. He said nothing for almost a full minute, but when Mako couldn't stand it anymore and was about to demand information from him, he delivered his first speech:

"_So_."

His tone wasn't surprised, nor evil, nor angry or anything else Mako had been expecting. Instead, it was thoughtful, almost heavy with consideration. He continued. "There _were_ three, after all." When he spoke more than one word at a time, Mako could hear the richness of his voice, a deep baritone. Wondering what _three_ had to do with anything, Mako asked, "Who are you?" The man glanced at him, one thick brow arched, as if he had just realized that Mako was capable of understanding language.

"I am the High Mage Banter," he announced, and paused as if waiting for the appropriate reply.

Mako had no idea what the appropriate reply would be.

He settled for asking, "The High what?" while casting half a glance over his shoulder at Li, silently telling her to get ready to bolt for freedom.

High Something Banter frowned at him. "The High _Mage,_" he said plainly. "Chief Magician in Princess Ciela's service."

"Right," Mako answered warily. "We're dead and you're a wizard. Maybe I _was_ just knocked senseless."

High-Mage-Chief-Magician Banter seemed annoyed, maybe even angered. "Come with me." He began to turn around, but when he noticed that Mako and Li were staying where they were, he advanced on them again, glowering.

He'd turned out to be hostile.


	3. The Pillar of Cephiro

Chapter Three… _The Pillar of Cephiro_

Mako whirled around. "Run!" he shouted at Li, who seemed rooted to the ground. He shoved her backwards. "_Run!"_

This time, she took his advice; she bolted like a rabbit, zipping through the trees with incredible speed and agility. Mako turned to face Banter, who showed no signs of chasing her. The man shifted the unconscious girl in his arms and raised his freed right hand.

_"Barrier Shield!"_

As if she had run into an invisible concrete wall, Li was jolted backwards and fell hard onto the ground. Mako scrambled across the humus to help her up.

Banter followed at a leisurely pace. "Calm down," he said sternly as the two looked frantically for another means of escape. "Did you not believe me? It isn't easy to run from a High Mage, nor is it wise. Now if you will stay where you are, I will explain things for you here. If you resist again, I will force you to come." He paused to let his words sink in. "Will you listen?" he asked finally.

Defeated, Mako nodded.

Banter bent down and set his cargo gently on the ground. He held his palm over her face, and a strange blueish light began to flicker there; within seconds, she opened her gray eyes, and Banter straightened up to his full height again. Mako suddenly remembered where he had seen this girl before.

The blonde at Tokyo Tower…

Banter did not help the girl to her feet, but Li did. "You okay?" she asked, seeming astounded that she and Mako hadn't been alone after all.

The other girl winced and rubbed her temple. "What happened?" Her voice was bleary, but even when clouded by sleep, it was still sweet and sad. "I heard someone, and…"

"There was a light and you fell," Mako recited.

The girl noticed him for the first time. "It was _you_?" she asked quietly, incredulously. "What did you do? Where are we?"

"He didn't do anything," Banter interrupted, and all three heads turned back to him. "You were summoned here by Princess Ciela, the Pillar of Cephiro."

Li blinked a few times. "Cewhat?" she asked after a moment.

Banter gestured around him. "Cephiro. The country in which you now stand."

The blonde stood straight. She was still rubbing one temple and her eyes were squeezed shut, as if she was trying her hardest to understand what was going on and failing miserably. Mako hadn't realized how tall she was. She stood at least an inch or two over him… and when the High Mage had been carrying her, Mako must also have missed the fact that she was extremely pretty, even when she was groggy and disoriented.

He had the feeling she wasn't groggy and disoriented all the time.

Banter must have realized that, while Li and Mako were alert and ready for answers, the new girl knew absolutely nothing, for he paused and allowed her time to collect her wits, and then repeated his introduction.

"High Mage Banter" apparently made as little sense to her as it had to Mako.

However, Banter either didn't notice or simply ignored her bewildered stare. He inclined his head toward each of them in turn, saying, "I suggest you introduce yourselves as well, seeing as you apparently do not know each other."

Mako glared up at him. "And you do? What, were you spying on us?" He felt a little reckless, but after all that had just happened, caution seemed to have been thrown to the winds long before Banter had arrived.

The High Mage frowned at him. "I have better things to do with my time than spy on a group of children."

"I'm not a child," Mako retorted.

Banter grunted. "For all our sakes," he muttered, "I hope you are right."

Before Mako could even begin wondering what this meant, Li quickly broke the uneasy tension with an over-cheery laugh. "Let's just get to know each other. You," she added in a suddenly harsh whisper to Mako, "are you trying to get us killed? He can squash you like a cracker under a steamroller. Don't—make—him—mad!" Without giving him a chance to reply angrily like he wanted to, she returned her voice to its normal volume and bubbliness. "My name is Li Kimoi," she announced enthusiastically, as if trying to distract Banter from exacting his wrath upon the three of them. "I'm fourteen, and I want to be a High Mage when I grow up."

Her joke seemed lost on Banter.

Following her lead, Mako said blandly, "Mako Keines, fourteen," and the blonde mumbled, "Keilin Makawa, also fourteen," so softly he almost didn't catch it. This seemed to satisfy Banter; he folded his arms and surveyed their group again, shooting a small glare at Mako when their eyes met.

"Well," he said finally, "I was not sure what I was expecting when she summoned the Magic Knights, but it was not what I see here." He shook his head. "But maybe I'm wrong. If the heavens shine down good fortune on me, I _will_ be wrong about you three."

Mako was too busy wondering if he should take offense at this to ask questions, but as he was coming to expect, Li filled that requirement instantly. "Who did you say summoned us here?"

Even the way Banter said the name filled Mako's mind with a sense of majesty, a nobility which was worth devoting life, love and loyalty to: "Princess Ciela, the Pillar which supports our world."

Li's tone became full of awe. "What does the Pillar do?"

Banter gestured towards the ocean, towards the mountains, the trees, the sky, even the ground. "What do you see?"

Keilin answered this one. "A land of tranquility," she said monotonously, as if the concept was as dreary as an isolated prison cell. Mako stared at her, but she gazed straight ahead at Banter like she was trying to avoid all other human contact.

Banter nodded at her. "The Pillar supports Cephiro by praying constantly for its goodwill, for the happiness and safety of its inhabitants. Ciela is the second Pillar this land has ever known. Through her self-sacrifice, this land flourishes with life and promise."

Mako had to consider this for a second, then decided that it was absolutely ridiculous. One person couldn't uphold an entire country with just prayers. Even if they could, and this was all true, then why were he and Li and Keilin here?

He opened his mouth to voice his question, but at that very moment Banter lifted his hand, saying, "Stand back."

The three of them obliged.

A globe of light materialized where they had been standing; it hovered a foot off the ground, flickering. Banter let his arm drop to his side. "Allow me to introduce you to our Pillar," he said in his rich baritone. The ball of light dimmed somewhat, and a figure began to take shape in its depths. Within half a minute, Mako found himself staring at the image of the girl locked in prayer floating in front of his face.

He was seeing things, he had to be.

Li gave an awe-struck cry. "This is Ciela? Oh, she's beautiful!"

Mako shook his head, still fixed on the image, and something exploded in his brain as reality crashed over him. "It can't be—it's Riuki!"

Li glanced at him. "Your sister?" she asked in a confused sort of tone.

Keilin glanced from the image of the Pillar to Mako. "She was with you at the Tower," she said, as if just now remembering the girl by the railing he had been with.

Mako ignored her and turned to Banter. "What's she doing here?" he demanded. "You said it was only us who were called here!"

"Do you think I was joking?" Banter retorted, glaring at him. "You three were summoned by the one you see before you—"

"You're lying," Mako shot at him, turning to study the image again.

His sister—it _had_ to be her—knelt on a large purple cushion, hands clasped in front of her, head bowed, eyes shut, mouth moving ceaselessly and soundlessly. She was wearing the most ornamental robes he had ever seen before, red silk or some silklike material adorned with precious stones of every kind and gold sewn into the fabric just like the silver on Banter's garb. The ends of the fabric hung off the pillow she knelt upon, so long that he could not see her feet. Gold and gems decorated her hair, which was pulled up into two loops, each trailing a ponytail long enough to reach her shoulders, just as she had had it done this morning at the Tower, although it had been tied with ribbons instead of delicate golden chains. The most attention-demanding feature, however, was the tiara gracing her forehead; it was a deep green, like an emerald, except somehow it seemed so much purer, so much more _alive_. Two smooth emerald bands met in the middle of her forehead and supported an oval of the same material, dangling from maybe half a centimeter of the same gold chain that wove in and out of her hair, at their vertex.

Li was right. She _was_ beautiful.

But what was she doing here?


	4. The Plight of the Pillar

Chapter four… _The Plight of the Pillar_

Banter glanced at the image again and then glared at Mako. "I would not lie about the Pillar."

"She isn't the _Pillar_!" Mako yelled angrily. "She's my sister! She's never been here before!"

"It's true," Li piped up. "I saw her at Tokyo Tower before—"

"Ciela," Banter interrupted with a steely edge to his voice, "is eight hundred forty-seven years old. She has never left the castle grounds even once in all the time that she has been Pillar."

Mako and Li fell silent.

"That's impossible," Keilin said, "no one lives that long."

Throughout the whole encounter with Banter, Mako could see that the High Mage had slowly been getting more and more irritated with their lack of Cephirian knowledge. Now he looked as if he would have liked to say something extremely rude to Keilin, but he restrained himself.

"Cephiro," he said, "is a land of the will, of the heart. If your heart and will are strong, then there is nothing you cannot do… like, for instance, live for hundreds of years or support the prosperity of the land with prayers alone."

"And this Ciela has a strong heart and will?" Keilin asked mildly.

Banter nodded stiffly. "The strongest in Cephiro. That is why she is the Pillar."

"Did she want to be the Pillar?" Li blurted, seemingly unable to hold her rapid-fire questions in any longer. "Who was Pillar before she was? What happened—"

"Miss Li, I must ask you to be quiet," Banter snapped, and Li closed her mouth unhappily.

Mako, for once, picked up where she had left off. "Alright, let's pretend that you're right and this really _is_ Ciela. Then why does she look exactly like Riuki?" he said darkly, angry with himself for beginning to believe the High Mage.

Banter flexed one hand at his side in frustration. "She—is—not—your—sister," he said slowly and loudly, as if speaking to someone halfway deaf. "Ciela is Ciela. Your Riuki is still in your world where she _belongs_. I do not care in the least if you see some similitude between them, because your job is not to identify our Pillar. Your job is to help her." He paused. "I might as well tell you the entire story. You apparently know nothing.

* * *

"You were summoned to Cephiro as the Magic Knights. A legend that has been passed down for generations in this world says that in the time of a Pillar's crisis, they will summon three young knights from another world, and these three will develop the skills in magic needed to save Cephiro from disaster. You are the first group of three Knights to ever be summoned forth. However, you are _not_ the first to be summoned here; the first Pillar, Serin, princess and priestess, cast the summoning spell when she sensed danger upon the land over eight hundred years ago, but it was incomplete. Only one girl was pulled through to our world. Princess Serin had died halfway through the spell.

The Pillar System was in its primary stages then. Serin could not break out of prayer lest Cephiro be attacked by monsters and demons of fear. Thus, she could not break to sleep, eat or drink. The strength of her heart and will made it possible for her to live like that for a very long time; however, her body was slowly failing her, and the added stress of major magic—the calling of the Magic Knights—took its toll. She died of exhaustion. There was no Pillar for almost a year after that, meaning that monsters roamed free across the world. During this time, the one Magic Knight used her powers to preserve the safety of the people, and eventually, her heart grew as strong as—maybe even stronger than—Serin's own had been. Ciela, Magic Knight of Wind, was selected as the new Pillar.

Since then, the System has been upgraded; we have found ways of allowing the Pillar rest and food without disrupting her prayers. Someday the Pillar might even be able to talk with people, to walk about freely instead of staying on her knees seventeen hours a day. Until then, though, Ciela's every waking moment—besides when she rests and eats a meal, of course—is spent locked in prayer; she cannot be approached then for fear of shifting her concentration enough to allow monsters to appear. But now something is going wrong.

At first I thought it was nothing more serious than a series of nightmares, but that theory was soon proven to be far from correct. Something has been plaguing the princess's dreams every night for almost seven months. She cannot tell us anything save for what we hear her crying in her sleep. Whatever it is, it's putting a great strain on her willpower; monsters have begun to spring up around the world, while all the time praying for Cephiro's goodwill has gotten more and more physically demanding. I did not see how serious the situation had become until I watched her cast the summoning spell. Cephiro's future is on the line, and you are here to save it."

Here he paused, allowing his speech to sink in.

A full half a minute passed before Keilin spoke up: "We have to save the Pillar from bad dreams?" Her tone of voice implied one word: _ridiculous_.

Li didn't give Banter a chance to respond. "What on earth does being a 'Magic Knight' mean anyway? I mean, what are we supposed to _do_? I've never used magic before in my life, and—"

Mako interrupted her. "If Ciela cast the summoning spell, then she couldn't have been concentrating too hard on praying for the land's stability. Why hasn't everything caught fire or something?"

He expected the High Mage to make a snide remark or to give him a cold stare, but instead Banter nodded solemnly. "The break in the prayers allowed for a large number of monsters to appear—the demons of fear and uncertainty created by the hearts of the people—and, regrettably, they have not been idle. In the hour it took me to find you, three particularly large ones attacked a village just west of here." Restrained fury shook in his voice. "There were seven casualties."

Li's voice was hushed. "Seven people died because she summoned us here?"

"Only in that one village," Banter answered gravely.

"So there were probably more elsewhere," Li inferred.

Banter nodded.

"Find someone else," Keilin muttered.

Li wheeled around and stared at her, shocked; Banter turned his attention to her as well, but Keilin's eyes were riveted on the ground. "I didn't ask to come here," she said, as if it was obvious. "They probably didn't ask for me. There's no point to saving these people. If they are unhappy, let them be. Familiarity, even if it's darkness, is a comfort. They are satisfied with being unhappy."

"You sure sound like _you_ are," Mako shot at her, disgusted at her point of view. "I didn't ask to come here either, but at least I'm willing to consider what Banter just said!"

"I'm in," Li announced, completely disregarding both Keilin's monologue and Mako's rebuke. "These people died so we could be here. We owe them our best shot!" She tossed her head and looked into Banter's face. "What do I need to do?"

At that moment, something thick and strong looped around Mako's chest and pulled tight.

He felt himself being lifted off his feet, arms pinned to his sides and air crushed out of his lungs, glistening coils of who-knows-what dangling him four feet in the air.

Keilin screamed.

Banter's hand was out and a spell was being formed in its palm immediately, but he failed to notice the hulking shape appearing in the trees behind him.

Mako struggled to breathe and failed. He kicked in every direction his range of movement would allow without landing a single one on a body of any sort.

Banter never saw it coming. The bulky monster behind him, a sick mustard sort of yellow with a deformed face and one empty eye socket, landed a hard blow over the High Mage's head and crumpled him to the ground, then advanced on Keilin as if nothing had happened.

Li screamed this time. "Mako! It's a snake! What do I do?"

Mako couldn't answer. His vision was growing fuzzy.

He was going to die a mediocre person.


	5. The Magic Knights

Chapter five… _The Magic Knights_

Li charged at the snake, banged on its scales with her fists, screamed at it, kicked it, all to no avail. The snake-monster-demon-whatever didn't drop Mako, didn't even regard her in the slightest—and to her horror, she saw that Mako's head was down; he wasn't fighting back anymore.

_This isn't good, this really isn't good,_ Li thought desperately. She looked over her shoulder at Keilin. The snot-colored giant was lumbering towards the blonde as she steadily backed up, too afraid to stay, too afraid to run. Li could do nothing to help her.

Instead, she ran to Banter, praying he wasn't dead, because if Banter was gone, then they were all surely doomed. The High Mage could save them. She forced herself to believe this. The High Mage _would_ save them.

When she lifted his head, he opened his eyes and tried to focus on her. Thank God. They were saved.

Banter sported a gash on his forehead that was dripping blood down the side of his face. He winced as Li pulled him up by the shoulders to a sitting position. "They're here," he slurred, "the monsters…"

"I know," Li said urgently. "Get rid of them!"

Banter shook his head painfully. "I can't do it alone now," he muttered.

Li felt something explode inside her heart.

"What do you mean, you can't?" she asked. "You're the High Mage, aren't you? Do something!"

"They were probably called here by Keilin's strong feelings of depression," Banter mumbled, sounding half-asleep. "Their powers are being magnified by the fear in your hearts. I cannot stop them alone now."

"Then what do I _do_?" Li yelled. "Mako's getting crushed and Keilin will _be_ crushed if we don't do something! Banter!" she cried; the High Mage had slumped into her arms, his eyes closed.

Behind them, Keilin cried out.

"Banter! Wake up! Help us!" Li grabbed the front of his robe as he slid to the ground. "_Help us_!"

_Calm yourself._

High Mage Banter's voice echoed in her head.

_Close your eyes._

Slowly, Li let the red cloth of his robes slide out of her hand. She cast one tremulous look over her shoulder at Mako, then at Keilin, and then she obliged.

_Do you feel something, deep in your heart?_

"Yes," Li replied out loud. "Yes, I feel it."

_It is magic. It resides in you._

"But how do I use it?"

_Let the strength of your heart show you._

A hundred strange feelings washed over her the moment Banter had finished; she was flying, she was falling, she was in water, she was in the hot sun, she was frozen in ice, she was buried in the cool earth, she was on fire, she _was_ fire.

_The strength of my heart…_

"_FLAME DAGGER!!!"_

She didn't remember standing up, nor turning around; all she knew was that she was there, and an unearthly shriek of pain was slicing the air as fire exploded from her outstretched arms; Mako was released and fell to the ground, and the snake-monster-demon-whatever burst into flames, writhing, thrashing, steadily being consumed.

Li stared at its smoldering remains, her chest heaving, her arms still out.

* * *

Mako felt himself hit the ground, suddenly aware that his lungs were full of sweet air. He coughed and continued gulping breaths until a wave of heat behind him forced him to crawl forward in search of oxygen.

It took a second for it to occur to him just what that heat wave was.

He was watching the flaming monster go down in a startled sort of trance, wondering hazily where the fire had come from, when he heard Banter's voice—strangely enough, not from behind him, but from _inside_ him.

_Are you alright, Mako?_

"I think I am," he mumbled, still watching the monster burn.

_This is important. Close your eyes. Concentrate._

Mako did as asked. Through his eyelids, he could sense flashes of firelight.

_What can you feel?_

"The flames are almost gone."

_Inside yourself._

"…I don't know… something's moving… like it wants to get out…"

_Your magic. Li saved your life with hers. Now you must use your own._

"Magic? But—"

_Your will is strong. Extremely strong. If you believe it enough, it will happen._

Mako felt as if the ground underneath him had started to crumble to powder. He wanted to yell out, to demand an explanation about things, but he was falling, turning, plunging into the ocean; he was breathing water, but it passed through his lungs as easily as if it had been air—

And then it was over, and he was on his feet; the snake was still smoking on the ground, Li was still by Banter, and Keilin was between an oak and a large ogre-demon with nowhere to go. Nothing had changed.

No. _Everything_ had changed.

Mako ran behind the demon as it raised its fist like a club, completely oblivious to everything save the anticipation of smashing the girl to pieces. "Keilin! Move! _Move!_" he yelled as he came, as if he even knew what he was about to do. She stared at him with eyes wide, then dove to her left. Mako skidded to a halt between her and the creature.

_"LEVIATHAN BLADE!"_

Water erupted from his hands in the shape of a long, thin dragon. It twisted around once, and then it tore through the monster's torso, leaving a huge, gaping hole where the heart would have been on an ordinary person.

Mako felt his whole body shaking.

The dragon vanished; its work was complete. The demon bellowed in rage, pain, and surprise, and for one horrible moment Mako thought the magic had been ineffective—and then the monster collapsed into a pile on the ground, where it lay quite still.

Keilin edged away from it as if it was still alive.

Mako reached for her arm. "Let me help you up."

She glanced at him, then did a double take and gawked at him wide-eyed.

"It's okay," Mako insisted, still stretching for her hand—and then he froze.

Since when had he been wearing that glove on his left hand?

He stared at it. The white material felt light and weightless on his hand; there were no fingers, but a small ring of cloth around his third finger held it in place securely. A curious blue gemlike orb rested in the middle of it, sparkling innocently.

"Mako?" came Li's voice from behind him. "You've got one too?"

He turned to see Li holding her left hand out as well. A glove identical to his adorned it, complete with a ruby-red orb on the back. The glove wasn't the only change in her outfit, though; an ivory-colored breastplate sat over one shoulder and her chest, and her brown loafers had been replaced with boots that matched the glove perfectly. They rose up her legs almost high enough to brush the hem of her skirt.

He looked down at himself.

His footgear had been transformed as well, although his new boots were wider, thick-soled, lace-up, and (judging by feel; his pants still completely covered his legs) they climbed only mid-calf. Armor like Li's gleamed from his chest. How could he have not noticed this?

Keilin, by now, had gotten up by herself. She looked no different than she had ten minutes ago.

Mako turned back to Li. "What _is_ this?"

Li, studying her own armor now, shook her head in wonder. "I have no idea."

* * *

Keilin watched them from the sidelines.

Always on the sidelines. Always on the wall. Always in the shadow.

She was disgusted with herself.

This wasn't some weird dream. She knew that now. This wasn't a science fiction movie, and it wasn't a video game. It was _real_. A man lay unconscious and bleeding, two demon-monsters lay dead, and the others had been transformed into—what was that term?—_Magic Knights_.

And here she stood, unchanged and unable to join them. Unable to defend herself like Mako, like Li. Unable to do a thing for the High Mage.

Silently, she cried out: _It's real! I believe it now. If people really are in danger, then give me what I need too. I don't know if I can change anything, but I'll try. I don't want… I don't want innocent people to be hurt like me…_

_Keilin?_

The girl started. She whirled around. No one there.

_Keilin?_

"Who is this?" she whispered.

A laugh—not dark, but delighted—rang through her ears, as if someone were right in front of her.

_You can hear me?_

The voice was an unfamiliar tenor, youthful, casual and comfortable. She pressed her lips together, wondering what to do, to say.

_Calm down, Keilin Makawa._

Strangely enough, the fear gripping her began to lessen. She relaxed slightly.

_I'm glad to meet you… someone else like me. Kindred spirits, almost._

Another pleasant laugh.

"Who are you?" she whispered again.

_I am_—

"Keilin!" Li called. "Banter's awake! He's asking for you!"

The unfamiliar voice had stopped.

"Wait—don't go," Keilin protested softly, but there was no answer.


	6. Just Like You

Chapter six… _Just Like You_

Banter was sitting propped up on his elbows with Li kneeling by his side by the time Keilin approached. He spoke slowly, as if each word hurt him. "I am glad you learned to control your magic in such a short amount of time. I underestimated you two—especially you," he added, inclining his head to Mako ever so slightly. "I have given you armor along with your magic. All that is left is a weapon worthy of a Magic Knight." He looked up at Keilin. "I do not have the strength left in me to awaken the powers of magic in you at this time. I can, however, give you the armor. Your magic will have to wait." He closed his eyes.

Keilin burst into flames.

At least, that's what Mako's first impression was. In truth, she had been enveloped in a column of light so brilliant that he could hardly see her inside. It covered her for nearly half a minute before fading, and it took that much time again for the purple dots burned on his retinas to die away.

Keilin was now wearing a breastplate very much like his own, a glove crowned with a green gem, and knee-high boots. Somehow, they made her skin and hair seem even paler than they had been.

The High Mage looked up and surveyed her with approval. "The second Magic Knight of Wind… may you live up to Ciela's legend." He broke off in a grunt of pain, and Li, looking anxious, helped him lay back down. "We'll have to find you a doctor or something," she said.

Banter shook his head. "No. I'm fine. There are more important things to do—"

"Oh, shut up," Li interrupted. "Look at you! You can't even get up. You're bleeding buckets, for heaven's sake!"

"I'm _alright_," Banter insisted, attempting to get to his feet again, as if trying to prove his point.

Li moaned in frustration. "Sit down. Hey—I said sit down—you can't just—will you _listen_ to me? Mako, help me here!" she cried, throwing her shoulders under the High Mage's arm to steady him as he finally managed to stand.

Mako followed suit and immediately wished he hadn't. Banter, apparently unable to support himself, was allowing most of his weight to rest on them.

He wasn't a large man, save in height, but he wasn't scrawny, either.

Li must have been thinking along those same lines. She winced noticeably, but her jaw was set as she insisted, "We're getting you help if we have to drag you there."

"We probably _will_ have to drag you there," Mako grunted. "Where are we going anyway?"

"There's only one village nearby," Banter replied, his tone heavy and almost drowsy.

Keilin frowned. "The one those monsters destroyed?"

Mako's legs almost gave way as Banter's full weight pressed down on his shoulders. The High Mage was out cold.

"Fantastic," Li groaned. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Mako turned his head to Keilin. "Where was that village?"

She paused. "He said west… but I don't know which direction that is."

Li looked to her left at the two monster carcasses. "Well, these things were the ones that got the village, right? And they came from…" Her eyes scanned the trees as she paused. "…that direction," she said finally, nodding in the general area between the snake and the ogre's first appearances.

"We could be attacked again," Keilin murmured.

"Or there might not _be_ any village left to find," Li added.

She and Keilin both looked at Mako, as if waiting for a final say.

He stared at them. What, had they nominated him as their leader? He hadn't done anything. Why was Li waiting for his approval when she was so enthralled with Banter instead? And wouldn't Keilin be happier (if _happier_ was the correct word for it) simply being lost in her own little realm of shadows rather than trying to save a man they barely knew?

He shocked himself, then, when instead of asking these things like he wanted to, he found himself saying, "We have magic and armor now, right? They protected us before. And besides, only seven people out of that village are… well, there had to have been more than seven there, right?" He readjusted Banter's dead weight before adding, "We'll go west and try to find some help there."

* * *

It was a long walk.

With the High Mage halfways trailing on the ground behind them, their progress was slow and hard. By the time the trees began to thin, the sun had begun to fall from its climax, and the temperature had gone up considerably.

"Stop," Li moaned after another five or ten minutes. "Please, let's stop, I can't feel my arms."

Keilin shifted Banter's weight onto her own shoulders, freeing Li from her hunchbacked position. "We need to keep moving. He doesn't have all the time in the world."

Sweat from the heat and the physical labor blurred Mako's vision. He almost spoke up to agree with Li's need for a break, but the thought of not being able to complete something—even the task of dragging an unconscious mage through a potentially monster-infested area in 70-degree weather—stirred up his explosive hatred for _mediocrity_, for _weakness_, for _failure_.

"She's right," he grunted, standing as straight as he could. "We need to keep going."

Li gazed at him curiously. "Are you alright, Mako? You look pretty red."

"I'm fine," he lied. "Let's move. At this rate, we'll never get there."

"If we're even headed in the right direction," Keilin added under her breath.

Mako tried his hardest to ignore that comment.

It was a _very_ long walk.

* * *

"I _told_ you people already! I am not taking any new tenants right now!" The innkeeper slammed the door shut with all the strength he could muster, shaking the tiny tavern with incredible force.

The knocking persisted.

The innkeeper shouted through the door. "Don't you understand? People _died_ today! Monsters are out there somewhere, and you people are dancin' through Farway like you're on a holiday! It isn't _safe_ here! Now go back to Wincrest where you belong 'fore I come out there meself and _make_ you go!"

With that, he turned and stomped off towards the kitchen.

The cook shook her head as he entered. "More travelers?"

"Of course," the innkeeper replied wearily, dropping into a chair. "Curse this city for bein' on the main road between Wincrest and Adred, curse it, curse it!" He sighed heavily. "Why," he demanded of no one in particular, "did they come to Farway?"

The cook took _they_ to mean _the monsters_.

"I mean," he continued, "we've got nothin' they'd want. Farway's a little traveler's town in the middle of nowhere. People here, resident or passerby, they shouldn't have to be afraid here. Right? Yeah. This should be a safe place. But it isn't." He dropped his head into his meaty hand. "My wife… my kids… I was so afraid they'd been…"

Another sharp, quick spurt of knocking interrupted his sentence. The innkeeper leaped to his feet.

"I told you, you aren't stayin' here!" he roared, stomping to the door and flinging it open—and then he froze.

A boy he had never seen before, drenched in perspiration, straining under the weight of a full-grown man and illuminated by the early evening sun beyond the tavern's door, gazed defiantly up at him, chest heaving but eyes steady. "We need help," he said, and the innkeeper dazedly stood aside to let them pass.

* * *

Li readjusted the cloth bandage on Banter's gash, then poured a third cup of cool water for Mako and carried it to him. For the entire four hours of their sojourn, she and Keilin had taken half-hour shifts supporting the High Mage's right side, but Mako had adamantly refused every offer they made to relieve him of his own burden, and when Li advanced from offers to demands and then on to threats, he dutifully ignored her and kept dragging himself on.

By the time they had found their destination, he was nearing heatstroke.

Now he was lying on a bed near Banter's, red and exhausted, but at least accepting the water. Li had been afraid he would turn it down.

Mako drained the glass. Li refilled it one last time and set it on the tiny bedside chest of drawers. "Get some sleep," she insisted. "Banter's fine. They said he just needs to rest for a few days. You aren't going to speed the healing by pushing yourself this hard."

Mako let his head fall back on the feather pillow and stared at the ceiling. "I'm alright. That was nothing."

"Liar," Li said sharply, but she left the reprimand at that. "Keilin and I are in the room next door." Here she almost added, "If you need anything, I'll be there," but at the last moment before she voiced it, she realized what a mistake it would be to say this to him. He was too much the independent type, and mothering him would only cause him to get impatient and upset.

She changed it to, "Don't do anything stupid."

Mako turned his head to look at her. "Excuse me?"

Li pretended this was what she'd meant to say all along. "You heard me. Just stay here and sleep like the rest of us mortals do at night. These walls aren't exactly soundproof. Keilin and I'll be able to hear every move you make."

"Oh, I'm glad you're alright too," Mako shot back sarcastically. He turned away from her.

Li glared at him, then flounced towards the door. At the threshold she turned and retorted, "Well, you're welcome for the water!" Feeling childish but elated at having the last laugh, she continued out into the corridor, and then into her own room.

Keilin wasn't there.

* * *

Kindred spirits.

That voice had called her a kindred spirit with itself.

Keilin, perched on a windowsill in a deserted corner of the tavern, stared absently at the darkening horizon past the pane of glass. She'd had four hours to brood upon the voice and its message, and yet it hadn't been enough time at all.

Kindred spirits.

She wanted to talk to him again, this nameless visitor. She wanted to hear him speak those two words again. She needed to know she wasn't alone, wasn't the only one struggling to find herself in the vast oceans of darkness.

Far-off lightning sparked in the sky noiselessly.

Without the faintest idea why, Keilin felt tears well up in her eyes. Without this person—whoever he was—she was on her own. Mako and Li could not understand, especially not now with their commitments to this world. She had been singled out, left without magic, identified as the one who caused the problems. She _needed_ him, her mystery friend, her secret kindred spirit.

_Why are you crying?_

Keilin sat up straight. She hadn't expected him to come.

In the window, her translucent reflection had vanished. A foggy outline had replaced it.

_Are you alright?_

"Yes, I'm…" No. She would not lie. After all that had happened, she would not push herself away from this one who might just comprehend. "I'm alone."

_What about your friends?_

"They aren't fighting the darkness." This sounded a little strange, but she didn't know how else to word her feelings.

_But you are?_

She hesitated only briefly. "Always."

_I know. I feel your heart's struggle._

"Who are you?"

_My name is Cail._

"But who _are_ you?"

_I am another just like you._

Just like you. Those words echoed through her mind as if they had been shouted.

On the window, two eyes, the color of a stormy sky, opened on the outline of a reflection, so clear and distinct they might have been mirror images of reality.

Keilin lifted a hand to touch the outline, perhaps to prove to herself it was really there. It shied away.

_Keilin Makawa, don't lose heart. They might not understand your battle, but I do. I am your kindred spirit._

"Cail?"

She did not remove her fingertips from the glass.

"How do you know me? How are we talking?"

The eyes, those warm, piercing eyes, closed. The outlined figure turned as if to leave, and in sudden desperation, Keilin planted both hands on the pane of glass.

"Cail! Don't go yet!"

_I won't leave you. We're in this together now._

The outline vanished, and her own reflection swam into view.

One last web of lightning feebly cracked open the horizon's sky.

Keilin was alone again.


	7. Water, Weakness, Willpower

Chapter seven… _Water, Weakness, Willpower_

Li had long ago blown out the candles that illuminated her room and gotten into bed, but she laid awake, waiting for Keilin.

Why on earth had she told Mako not to do anything stupid? Of all the things to cover her first blunder with, why that? Of _course_ Mako wouldn't do anything stupid. He couldn't do _anything_ right now; he needed rest as badly as Banter did. All Li had accomplished was to make herself out to be bossy—which she wasn't, under normal circumstances.

She didn't believe they were going home anytime soon. If, then, they were going to be stuck here in Cephiro for a while, the last thing she wanted was for Mako or Keilin—or, heaven forbid, Banter—to not like her.

Li Kimoi was not insecure. She was simply a people-person who enjoyed company to a fault, especially when the company was found to be fascinating.

High Mage Banter qualified as fascinating. Mako Keines did too, for some subtle reason Li didn't know. And Keilin…

Well, maybe Keilin didn't quite measure up to Banter, but there was no reason she couldn't at least _try_ to make friends with her.

By the time Keilin had returned, Li was asleep.

* * *

Mako lay on top of the thin cotton bedspread; even so, he was much too warm for his own comfort. The glass of water Li had left him was empty again.

He was still thirsty.

The jar of water sat on the chest of drawers next to Banter's bed where the High Mage lay sleeping, at least fifteen feet away. Mako wondered if he could retrieve it.

When they had entered the building, he had finally succumbed to Banter's dead weight and his own exhaustion. Li and Keilin nearly had to carry him to this room; he could not stand on his own any longer. Now, though, he might be able to get the water jar. After all, he _had_ been lying down for over an hour. And it wasn't as if the jar was on the other side of the village. Just on the other side of the room.

It might as well have been on the other side of the village.

Mako stared at it, silently cursing the mediocrity that kept him where he was. Anyone else could have just gotten up and reached the jar with no problem. But here he lay, unable to perform a simple task, almost helpless.

He swung his legs over the bed and sat up.

His face radiated heat even now. That was nothing. He'd been hot before. He was used to long, grueling soccer practices. Dragging the High Mage here should have been a piece of cake; he just hadn't pushed himself to his full potential. Getting water should be a thousand times easier. This was just weakness.

Mako pushed himself to his feet. The room spun once; he tottered on his feet and braced himself against the wall until it passed. Then he started for the water jar.

Average, yes. Mediocre, no.

He kept one hand on the foot of Banter's bed as he passed it. This wasn't hard. _It shouldn't have been hard in the first place,_ he thought, stopping in front of the chest of drawers. His left hand, jewel-crowned glove and all, reached for the prize.

A muffled, alien shriek tore through the night outside, and the inn was shaken to its foundations. Mako was thrown off his feet, landing painfully on his right side.

What on earth—?

Li and Keilin burst through the door as he was trying to pull himself up. "Mako!" the former cried. "Did you just hear—Mako? Oh, for _heaven's_ sake, I told you not to do anything stupid!" Exasperated, she ran to help him to his feet. Mako accepted the assistance with reluctance.

The water jar would probably have to wait.

Another horrible screech resounded outside, this time accompanied by human screams.

"I'll go see what's happening," Keilin said, and she disappeared into the hallway.

Li watched her go, then turned to the High Mage. "Is he alright?"

"He hasn't even moved," Mako answered flatly. "If he wasn't breathing so loudly I'd think he was dead."

"Don't say that," Li shot at him.

Mako stared at her, but her attention was now fixed on checking the mage's bandaged wound. "He's going to be fine," she said, half to herself. "The innkeeper said so."

"Then why'd you ask?" Mako demanded.

Li sighed in frustration. "_Because_," she said, as if this explained everything, and returned to the bandage. "I just hope he wakes up soon, 'cause he has an awful lot of explaining to do when he does."

Mako grabbed the foot of the bed as the room spun around again. Li, thankfully, didn't notice. It took a few seconds for Mako to steady himself.

As if on cue, Keilin darted through the door. "It's another monster," she reported breathlessly. "Someone said it's one of the ones that killed all those people."

"But _we_ killed _them_," Mako said, staring at her.

Keilin shook her head, making her honey-colored hair dance around her shoulders. "Banter said there were three. We only got two."

"How is it that you remember everything Banter's said?" Mako asked, but Li interrupted. "We need to go! If we don't hurry, someone'll get hurt!" She grabbed Mako's arm to tug him along, but he pulled out of her grasp. "Keilin, stay here," he demanded as Li latched onto his sleeve again.

Keilin, startled, looked as if he had slapped her across the face.

"I mean it," Mako said. "You don't have your magic yet. Wait here and take care of Banter. We'll come back in a few minutes."

Without further ado, Li dragged him out of the room.

* * *

A very stunned and humiliated Keilin felt her face burning. She stared at the empty doorway for almost a full minute before turning her gaze to the High Mage.

"_Why didn't you give me magic when I needed it earlier?!_" she cried.

Banter remained comatose.

Keilin stood staring at him, dazedly hoping for his miraculous revival so she could be granted magic as well, so she could prove herself, so she would know at least _some_ self-worth.

She realized she was also hoping to hear Cail again, but her kindred spirit made no appearance.

Maybe Mako was right. Maybe she was better off out of the way, in hiding, just like she had been for so many years. Maybe she wasn't the right person for the Magic Knight job. Even so, she wasn't _staying here_.

Keilin Makawa left the room.

* * *

With Li on his heels, Mako flew outside, hoping the demon was more of a scare-tactics type than one that preferred to go on the offensive. He still felt like he was about to keel over, and a fight surely would not prove to be a pleasurable experience. Still, if he had to choose, he would much rather make war against something with a bark worse than its bite.

Right from the first glimpse of his quarry, he could tell that the water jar was perhaps further from his reach than he had originally thought.

A chimera of sorts stood hunched and ready, as if it had been expecting them. Its two heads—one rather like a lion, the other a horrible eagle-salamander hybrid—strained against their necks as if struggling to decapitate themselves and fly at Mako like two liberated junkyard dogs. The chimera featured other mismatched body parts, as if someone had sewn mutilated animal puppets together in the dark, but nothing drew his attention like the six-foot, glistening brown tail arched over the feline head, hissing and spitting: a python.

Remembering the strength in the coils around his chest earlier, Mako had to call on every last reserve of willpower he possessed not to recoil at the sight of it.

Li seemed to read his thoughts. "We'll beat this thing," she said, trying to sound reassuring, but he caught the trace of nervous fear in her voice.

Without warning, the chimera leaped for them.

Li threw her hands out. "_Flame Dagger!_"

The monster stopped mid-bound and dove to the left, narrowly missing the spout of fire exploding from her arms. Then it kept coming.

Mako threw himself onto Li, knocking her to the ground as the demon glided over where they had been a split second earlier. It skidded on the ground, turning a hundred and eighty degrees, and charged again. Mako scrambled to his feet. "_Leviathan Blade!_"

The water dragon spiraled from his hands and hit the creature on the lion's head.

Mako waited for a cry of pain. There was none.

The lion head, whole and no worse for the wear, shook droplets out of its eyes and mane. The eagle-reptile head sent a spine-chilling wail to the starry sky above, more of a battle cry than anything else.

The chimera bounded forward yet again.


	8. Serpent and Angel

Chapter eight… _Serpent and Angel_

Keilin pushed her way through a sea of people crowded at the tavern's doorway, a multitude bursting with curiosity and, at the same time, fear. If what Banter said was true and this monster thrived on uncertain fright, then Mako and Li were as good as dead.

She forced herself in between two men who were leaning out of the door as far as they dared, and a middle-aged woman's voice cried out after her: "Don't you be goin' out that door, lass!"

Keilin ignored the warning.

The small town was deserted. Surely all its residents were taking refuge in their homes or the inn, with visions of the previous attacks fresh in their memories. They were probably wondering if more than seven were meant to die this day, if they were doomed to the terror of constant attacks from now on, if they would ever feel safe in their own town again.

Keilin glanced up and down the dark, empty paths leading to and from the inn, feeling as if the hearts of the people of this town were reflecting her own. How these people just wanted to see the sunlight, the essence of familiarity and security; how she just wanted to wipe away her heart's blindness and be free from her bubble of despair, to see the sunlight of hope, something she had not seen for six years.

A spurt of flame shot above a house's roof some twenty yards to her right.

The others must be there.

* * *

"Why—won't—it—_die?_" Li wailed as her third attempt to burn the chimera to ashes was dodged yet again.

Mako didn't answer. His throat and mouth were dry and burning. His skin, radiating heat just fifteen minutes ago, now felt like ice to the touch. He was exhausted already, and longingly he thought of the bed back in the inn.

He also desperately wanted to be home, but that was another matter entirely.

Li gave a shrill cry of pain, and he snapped out of his thoughts to see her sprawled on the ground, clutching a spot just above her knee, where the clothlike material of her boots was ripped and trickles of blood oozed down her leg.

One of the creature's large paw-fists was tinged red.

Mako started for her, intending to place himself in between them and blast it point-blank—surely, _that_ would be effective—but he froze in his tracks two steps there.

The python-tail was poised in a graceful arc over the two heads, eyeing him and hissing.

The memory of that afternoon's attack flared up in his mind, and an imaginary coil of scales and muscle began to tighten around his chest.

This was ridiculous. It was a _snake_. Those were nothing. He had seen them before. He had played with garter snakes in the grass in years gone by. He had never been afraid of one in his life.

Now he stood rooted to the spot, staring wide-eyed as the chimera's tail tasted his fear in the air, bobbing in either direction as if to say, _Come on, come and get me, I'll show you what fear really is._

The lion head bared its teeth at Li, who seemed terrified beyond words, quivering and frozen. One massive paw-hand reached for her throat.

Mako drew shaky, unsteady breaths. He couldn't move, couldn't run, couldn't attack, couldn't save Li.

"Mako! _Mako!_"

He whirled around. Keilin stood behind him, an urgent expression on her face. "What's _wrong_ with you?" she demanded. "Help her!"

He didn't question as to why Keilin was here and not back in the inn where she belonged. He turned back to the monster, intent on calling on his magic, but he could not even lift his hands.

"Mako, _do something!_" Keilin moaned.

The snake lunged forward as best it could, absolutely reveling in the scent of terror as it reached for him, and Li screamed in fear as the creature's huge paw-hand placed itself on her neck.

Mako felt the invisible memory of a demon crush his ribs to dust.

* * *

Keilin stared at him. What was going on? Why wasn't he attacking? Li was going to die, couldn't he see? Didn't he care?

The longing that had arisen earlier that day rose once more in her heart, and she screamed silently for help, anyone, anything, a weapon, a rock, something to ward this thing off.

_Keilin._

For one shining moment of hope, she believed the voice to be Cail's; when it spoke again, however, she realized that it was not her kindred spirit who answered her, but High Mage Banter.

_Your heart is ready to receive the magic allotted to the Magic Knight of Wind. You must hurry. Close your eyes._

She did so.

_Can you feel the magic stirring within you?_

"Yes… it's… it's in my heart… it's burning…"

_Use it. The time has come._

The moment the High Mage's voice died away, a violent gust of wind swept through the city, blowing her hair and school skirt in every direction; she could feel it spiral around her, she was breathing it in, it was filling every part of her to the fullest.

Just when she wondered if she could stand it for much longer, the wind died, and she was standing right where she had been before, with Mako's attention now riveted on her and Li still struggling against the might of the chimera.

She strode past Mako as if he were a statue.

The chimera's two heads looked at her in unison, and each uttered a low growl; it threw Li to the ground again and instead prepared to spring at Keilin, as if suddenly she had proved to be a much more satisfying kill.

Without thinking of what she was doing, Keilin thrust out her hands.

"_Angel Wing!_"

A smaller tempest encircled her briefly, and for a fleeting second she felt as if a pair of wings had sprouted from her back—and then the air currents shifted; wind knifed through the monster as if it were a sword, and blood matted the creature's fur. Its heads shrieked and wailed as the beast fell to the ground.

Keilin watched it lie there, howling in pain, and a grim sort of satisfaction rose inside of her.

She had magic.

She had _magic!_

* * *

Mako seemed to unfreeze the moment the demon had begun to be sliced open; he yanked Li to her feet and, just like he had done for Banter, ducked under her shoulder to support her weight—which was considerably less than the mage's.

Li winced as she braced herself against his shoulder. "It hurts," she whispered.

Another gust of wind began to swirl around them, making her skirt ripple around her legs, and Keilin's hair danced out as she held one hand aloft; the air currents were summoned to her aid again, and at her command they finished the job they had begun.

With an ear-splitting shriek from one head and a roar of desperation from the other, the chimera crumbled to dust before their eyes.

The wind died. Keilin's hair fell, and the girls' clothing was stilled.

The silence that reigned then was so sudden, so extreme, that Mako's ears rang. They stayed very still for almost a full minute, and Keilin did not turn around until a voice sounded from behind all of them.

"Well done, all of you."

High Mage Banter slowly progressed into their midst. He looked very tired.

Li's glazed expression brightened considerably. "You're awake!" she exulted.

Banter nodded. "I am awake. I _have_ been awake ever since I sensed your need for your magic," and he inclined his head toward Keilin. "Again, I am sorry for the delay in granting it to you."

"I'm not!" interrupted Li, as Mako had expected she might. "You just saved all of our lives! That was really cool!"

Banter looked as if he wanted to silence her, but his attention was given mostly to the large gash on her leg, which was staining the entire right side of her boot with blood. "Your wound is more serious than you realize," he said finally. "If you cannot walk, I will help you back to the inn. We need to take care of that immediately."

Li hadn't even had the chance to test her stability on her own when another breeze soared around them.

"_Winds of Healing!_"

Mako looked at Keilin in time to see her, eyes closed, gently blow across her palm as if blowing a kiss. With the air pulling her hair straight out behind her, she looked like a completely different person, somehow more confident, more alive.

Li let go of Mako with a small gasp of astonishment. The gash on her leg had vanished, and her thigh-high boot had repaired itself; at the same time, the bandage had fallen off the High Mage's head, revealing no wound, no blood. And suddenly Mako felt his skin warm up and his raw throat cool down, his lightheadedness disappear, energy returning to his legs.

All of them looked up at Keilin.

Li, who looked as if all her wildest dreams had just come true, broke the silence: "That was _wicked_ awesome! Mako, did you _see_ that? Did you?"

Mako didn't answer. Keilin had met his eyes—and then her gaze hardened, and she looked to the ground once more.

A statue could not have shown less emotion than she did now.

_That's strange,_ Mako thought as he considered her lapse into solemn silence. _She showed greater spirit than either of us during the battle, but now she's pulled herself into her shell again. She's like a turtle._

Under normal circumstances, this might have been funny; now, though, he could see nothing funny about it.


	9. Hawk's Assignment

Chapter nine… _Hawk's Assignment_

The innkeeper, so bowled over by the prospect of a second attack on the same day that he couldn't think straight, seemed winded and almost in danger of slipping into shock when they returned to the tavern. However, this did not impair his gratitude; he declared dazedly that their stay was on the house and ordered the cook to fix something for them.

The cook had taken the meaning of "something" to the extreme. Within the hour an entire feast was brought to the room Banter and Mako had shared by means of herself, the innkeeper, and four other tavern employees all laden with platters, enough to feed a small army.

Mako noticed uneasily that the table was creaking in protest under the weight of it all, and he wondered if it would fall through the floor.

Banter seemed to take no notice as the banquet was rearranged to perfection with the utmost care; he didn't even mention that there was one extra chair being brought to the table. He waited until the troop of staff had left them to their privacy, and then made sure to shut the door soundly.

By this time, Li was halfway through a heap of fried potatoes.

Mako suddenly realized that he had not eaten since this morning, when he had crammed something down while Riuki paced impatiently around the kitchen, well over twelve hours ago.

Home…

How long ago that seemed now. A few hours seemed a few weeks.

He almost shook his head. _I was brought here for a reason,_ he thought sharply. _This Ciela is trusting us with her country. I need to just forget about home for now and concentrate on what's ahead._

High Mage Banter had been watching him for almost half a minute. For a split second, Mako wondered if he had been reading his mind as well.

_Could_ the mage read minds?

Banter regarded him for another moment or two. "Eat," he said finally. "You look like you need it." He ladled some steaming broth into a dish and offered it to Keilin. "You too."

She took it from him and set it on what little open table space was available in front of her, and then she did not touch it at all.

Li was starting on a large slice of bread topped with a generous wedge of cheese by now. Watching her, Mako wondered if she had eaten at all within the past week. He had never seen anyone consume food this ravenously before.

He himself did not eat a thing. He was not _going_ to eat until he had some questions answered; in the wake of two monster attacks, being granted magic, and a world in imminent danger, food just didn't seem too important.

"What are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

Banter dutifully ignored him.

Mako tried again. "Do we just roam the countryside, looking for monsters, or do we have a strategy?"

Banter silently shined an apple on the sleeve of his robe and bit into it.

It went on like this for a while. Mako asked questions and the High Mage ignored them. Everything he said was met with silence.

Keilin studied the floor. Li and Banter ate. Mako went unobserved.

He was tired of this. He wanted answers.

The High Mage was well into a large portion of meat when Mako banged the heel of his hand onto the only open table surface he could find, hard enough to rattle dishes and make Li jump in her chair, spilling peas all over herself. "Are you even _listening_?" he snapped at Banter, who had at least looked up to acknowledge him. "For heaven's sake, what's the point of keeping us in the dark? I thought you were here to help us!" As the girls stared at him, nonplussed, he continued. "I don't know what we're supposed to be doing! Isn't this where you come in?"

"No," came an answer from the doorway, "that's _my_ job."

Mako started and looked up. He hadn't heard the door open.

High Mage Banter didn't turn around. "You're late."

"Not on Autozam time, I'm not," announced the new arrival; he moved from the doorway to the extra fifth chair and threw himself into it. "You can't expect me to just magically appear every time you need me. I'm a busy man, Banter. Packed schedule. Barely enough time to work on ship repairs." He placed both hands behind his head, leaned back as far as the chair would allow, and laughed. "Believe me, that piece of junk needs all the repairs I can give it."

Mako could tell that Keilin was trying her hardest not to stare at the latecomer, but Li was making no effort to be polite; she was gawking at him with her mouth slightly open.

He couldn't blame her. The man was extremely out-of-place in the room; he drew attention the way High Mage Banter would if he were anywhere on Earth. He wore a baggy jumpsuit of sorts that was faded and stained, and his face was streaked with grease. His hair went in any direction it pleased, rather like Mako's, except that the color was a strange sort of light brown that gleamed orange when light hit it. His voice was uncommonly high-pitched, but it carried a certain congenial aggresiveness nonetheless.

Banter was giving the latecomer a look of disapprovement.

Mako liked him already.

The man seemed to realize the mage's objection to his appearance, although it did nothing to change his laid-back demeanor. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't clean up before I came," he said defensively. "But honestly, if I'm going to meet the Knights, they should get to know me just as I am, right? Characterized by what I love the most—my ride, my dear ship, my beloved NSX." He grinned broadly. "What could be better than gettin' your hands dirty, workin' on your favorite hunk of junk until it's completely restored? You know, Zarin Torque thinks by the time we're finished with it, it'll have two decks and that crazy Laguna Cannon that he keeps goin' on about—"

"I didn't ask you to come to talk about your ship," Banter interrupted sharply. "There are more important things at hand." He looked straight at Mako. "This is Hawk Vision, originally from a neighboring country called Autozam."

"I've been in Cephiro for nine years," the one called Hawk pointed out. "So I'm not a _complete_ stranger to these parts, which is a good thing, because apparently you all are." He grinned again. His face seemed to be made for doing so.

The High Mage continued with the formal introductions. "Mako Keines, Magic Knight of Water, Li Kimoi, Magic Knight of Fire, and Keilin Makawa, Magic Knight of Wind. At least, they _will_ be once it's all been said and done. For now, though—"

"Wait," Li cut in, "what do you mean, we _will_ be?"

Seeing Banter's unhappy expression at being interrupted, Hawk took over. "The legend goes that the three summoned from another world will be the Magic Knights once they wield the weapons made of escudo ore and have successfully awakened the Rune Gods. In other words, you're Knights-in-training." He smirked at the mage. "And you thought I couldn't even read."

Banter was as successful at ignoring Hawk as he had been at ignoring Mako earlier.

Li sounded bewildered. "What are Rune Gods?"

Hawk shrugged. "Beats me if I know. And from what I've heard, Banter here doesn't know what they are either. No one does." He paused. "Well, except Ciela, maybe. But that was what, well over eight hundred years ago? Not even Banter's that old. Only four hundred some, aren't you? Anyway, from what the legends tell, Ciela awakened a huge sort of power known only as the Rune God a year after Serin died, and it was supposed to help her in her quest to save Cephiro. Except that what the land really needed was a Pillar, so it enhanced the strength of her heart instead, and she became the Pillar and then everyone was happy."

Banter nodded. "That is all the legends say."

"And what about these weapons?" Mako asked.

For the first time since returning to the tavern, the High Mage answered him. "This is the role Hawk Vision will play. He holds two jobs in Cephiro; one is that of the Master Smith. Just as Ciela did, you are to seek out the legendary Spring of Eterna, where you will find an ore called escudo. Hawk will use that ore to create weapons for you."

Li leaned forward in her chair. "So where's this Spring of Eterna?"

"The only person who could tell you that is Princess Ciela," Banter replied.

Keilin, startling them all, entered the conversation: "So we need to find a spring that no one knows where it is, awaken giant powers that no one knows what they are, and save Cephiro from a danger that no one can identify." It was not a question, but a morose statement.

Banter nodded. "Exactly."

Hawk laughed again. "Not a hard job for the Magic Knights, now is it?"


	10. Follow the Leader

Chapter ten… _Follow the Leader_

Mako ate slowly, hardly tasting the food as he struggled to absorb all that had happened since meeting Hawk.

They were supposed to find an ore in a spring and bring it back to the Master Smith. Okay.

Hawk would turn that ore into Magic Knight-worthy weapons for them. Fine.

Then they were supposed to summon forth some huge Rune God power that only one person had ever seen before in the history of Cephiro. Well, it wasn't impossible.

But _this_…

How on earth was he supposed to understand, much less _accept_, this?

Li was still standing on her chair. "Get it away!" she wailed for the seventh time. "Just grab it or something!"

Keilin had succumbed to hunger and was taking small sips of the broth Banter had offered her half an hour ago, although by now it was surely stone cold. She had long since given up trying to convince Li to sit back down. Instead of studying the ground again, however, she was watching the scene unfold with considerable interest.

Hawk had proven to have an appetite to rival Li's; he was on his third helping of everything and was much more concerned with his plate than anything else.

High Mage Banter simply sat there with his arms folded. His hands were covered under the sleeves of his robes, and it made him seem as though he had no arms at all.

Mako felt something pull at his pant leg.

Li pointed at him. "There! Mako! Grab it before it gets away! Throw it outside or something!"

"Oh, for _heaven's_ sake," Keilin snapped, "give it here!" As Mako leaned to hand her the offending object, she snatched it out of his hands and thrust it up at Li. "Does it _look_ like a monster?" she demanded.

The redhead recoiled. "Yeah, it does!"

"Pu," answered the monster, squirming in Keilin's hands.

"You're going to hurt it," Mako warned.

Hawk shook his head. "Nah," he said, his mouth full. "Mokona's a little ball of fluff, but he's pretty hardy. I drop-kicked him last week when he ran off with one of my tools, and he came out alright. 'Course, he was pretty dizzy, but that only lasted a few minutes—"

Mokona blew a quick, decisive raspberry at him, then settled down in Keilin's arms. "Puuuu."

Li stared at him uneasily, but after a glance at the High Mage settled reluctantly into her seat. All thoughts of eating, however, seemed to have been banished from the realms of her mind. She stared at _it_ as though it would sprout fangs and rip her throat out the moment she turned her eyes elsewhere.

Mako doubted that anything like that was going to happen. He shoveled more food onto his plate.

Hawk had mentioned that he was giving them a very reliable guide (although he said _very reliable_ in a way that made Mako nervous) to help them find their way around Cephiro. "After all," he'd added, turning sideways in his chair, "Banter's a busy guy too, he can't shepherd you three around the world. And I can't abandon my ship, not when we're about to add space for living quarters—man, this thing is gonna be amazing…" The High Mage, sensing danger of a three-hour description of an on-board hotel, had interrupted, and Hawk had reluctantly returned to the issue of the _very reliable_ guide.

That was about when Mokona wiggled his way out of the baggy pant leg of the Smith's jumpsuit and bounced onto the table; Li had let out a shriek that nearly cracked glass and fell backward over her chair.

As the conversation dwindled, Mokona occupied himself by inspecting the Knights-to-be (with the exception of Li, who had brandished a fork like a sword at him), studying their faces, tugging on their Earth-style school uniforms, or, as he was doing at this very moment, playing in Keilin's sheet of honey-blonde hair.

Mako would never understand why the living marshmallow had taken to Keilin so much. _Opposites attract, I guess,_ he thought.

The High Mage filled the silence as Hawk cleaned his third plate. "Mokona accompanied Ciela on her journey to become a Magic Knight after she had obtained the escudo. He will provide all you need, but he will not partake in any battles. Do not worry about him. He can take care of himself."

"Just don't pull on his ears," Hawk managed through a mouthful. "He doesn't like that."

Li flinched as Mokona bounced into her lap. "What _is_ it?" she asked uncomfortably.

Hawk shrugged and swallowed. "I don't know. I don't think anyone else does either."

"It doesn't matter," Banter added. "Mokona is extremely helpful. He will help you in your search for the Spring, the ore, and the Rune Gods. You will be glad he is with you."

As if on cue, Mokona snatched the bow off Li's uniform; she grabbed for it and missed, and the creature bounced just out of reach, parading the purloined adornment on his head. "Pu-uu!"

"Give it back!" Li snapped, looking as though she were about to launch herself at the thief and take her bow back by force. "I said give it back, you little marshmallow-bunny hybrid freak!"

Mokona promptly delivered the stolen goods to Keilin and resumed playing in her hair as if nothing had happened.

* * *

The half-spent night continued to wane. Less than six hours to sunrise. Less than six hours to sleep.

Mako stared at the dark ceiling.

Hawk and Banter had gone, the former to a ship, the latter to a castle. The Knights were left with Mokona to show them the way to the Spring of Eterna. Come sunrise, they would begin their sojourn for the ore called escudo.

This was going to be impossible. A needle in a haystack. A spring in a world.

He tried not to think about it as he invited sleep to overcome him.

Curled up on the High Mage's pillow, Mokona gave a soft "puu" and twitched his feet. A dreamer.

* * *

Li fell asleep the moment she laid down. She was warm, full, exhausted, and excited about the prospect of an Escudo Quest that lay just beyond the morning: perfect conditions for going to sleep. She lay curled on her side, perfectly still.

Keilin, on the other hand, remained awake. She had never been able to just drop off into sleep. Under normal circumstances, insomnia would claim her for at least another hour.

But something was different tonight. She had felt it the moment she had gotten into bed.

For the first time in years, she felt as if she was safe and warm, sheltered, with a purpose that would rise with the sun.

She couldn't explain it. Maybe the darkness was receding. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

Then again, it could just be the food disagreeing with her digestive system.

Whatever this purposeful warmth was, she decided to enjoy it, whether it be shining hope or bacteria hard at work. She hoped it was the former.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Keilin joined Li in slumber.

When all in the room was still and peaceful, two storm-sky eyes on the window closed, and a shadowy outline vanished from the pane of glass, as if confident that all would remain well until morning.

* * *

"Pu pu! Puuuuu, puu pu puuu!" Mokona thrust Mako's boot at him for the third time, shouting—if one could call the outbursts of "pu" _shouting_—at him impatiently.

Mako shoved his footgear aside. "Not _now_," he snapped, also for the third time, and he returned his attention to his ivory-colored armor, lying in a heap that he could not make heads or tails of. "For crying out loud, how did I get out of this thing last night?" he asked of no one in particular, lifting the breastplate and the one shoulder pad and studying them in vain.

Mokona retrieved the boot with another "pu" of frustration, and Mako glared at him. "If you're so smart, then you tell me how I'm supposed to get this on again."

"Puuu," Mokona answered. "Pu, puu pu!"

"I don't _know_ how," Mako shot back. "That's exactly the problem!"

"Puuuu."

Mako diligently ignored this. "I wonder if the girls had this much trouble," he muttered to himself, dropping the armor in defeat.

Mokona, dragging the boot behind him, scrambled up onto the bed.

"They probably didn't have any trouble at all. _You_ weren't there with them," Mako told him, also answering his own question.

Indignantly, Mokona shoved his footwear at him again with a "puu" that sounded almost dangerous.

Mako gave the armor one final glance. "Might as well do the part I know." He slid his boot onto his foot, not paying any attention to Mokona, who was worming his way over to the impossible equipment.

"PUUU!"

A flash of ruby-red light made Mako's eyes sting; he blinked hard a few times before regaining focus. "What the heck was that?" he snapped, glaring at the creature bouncing contentedly on the mattress. "Mokona, you better not have touched my… hey, wait…"

He ran his hands over his armor, which was securely in place around his chest, back, and shoulder. Then he looked up again. "Um… thanks."

* * *

Li and Keilin were awake and ready to leave by the time Mako knocked on their door, and neither of them, as it turned out, had had any trouble with their armor.

He felt a twinge of jealousy at that.

Mokona sailed to Keilin the moment she had stepped across the threshold and landed in her arms like a giant marshmallow on springs. She caught him almost reluctantly; addressing Mako, she asked, "Why does he always come to me?"

"I don't know," Li answered, as if the question had been for her, "but it can _stay_ with you." She was clutching the doorpost so hard her fingers were turning white.

Mako turned back to Keilin. "Have you considered the possibility that he likes you?"

"He's being too friendly," she shot back.

"He's supposed to be friendly," Mako answered her. "He's our guide."

"He's not being very much of a help," Keilin pointed out through gritted teeth as Mokona climbed to her shoulder and began batting at tassels of her hair.

Li, seizing the moment of distraction, edged along the wall to stand behind Mako.

Their journey was not off to a promising start.

Eventually, Mako managed to pry Mokona off of Keilin, and their guide, under protest, was restricted to walking only. This greatly satisfied both girls, as long as Li didn't have to walk directly behind Mokona, and so Mako took the lead with the long-eared marshmallow bouncing along directly in front of him.

* * *

The innkeeper, as a parting gift, gave them a day's worth of food wrapped in cloth packages and a solemn farewell at the door of the tavern. "You three watch out for yourselves. There's bound to be monsters out there that are stronger than that thing you fought out there last night. Don't get cocky, don't take unnecessary risks, and whatever you do, _don't split up._ If you kids are the only hope for finding whatever's buggin' Princess Ciela and gettin' rid of it, then by all means stay alive and do what you need to do." He looked at each of them in turn. "I'm only thinkin' of me family, here. Good luck to you." And he was gone, retreated to a further part of his inn.

Keilin stared after him. "He really believes we can do this."

Li nodded. "That's 'cause we're _going_ to do this."

Mokona tugged on Mako's pant leg with a quiet "puu," then indicated the road leading out of the little town.

Mako nodded at him, then (without even stopping to wonder _how_) translated: "He says we need to go now."

Hawk had drawn for them a crude map of the surrounding area the previous night. This little town, known as Farway, was a small traveler's haven: a place to eat, rest, and continue on your journey. It was situated halfway between two other bigger towns, one to the east called Wincrest, and one to the west, Adred.

Banter had grunted when Hawk pointed out the latter. "Adred is a place you'd best avoid," he'd said darkly to Mako. "There are people there who would much rather steal whatever you're carrying or kidnap the girls than nod hello as you pass." Here he had glanced at Li for a moment before adding, "Although in some cases, this might be a good thing." Mako had forced a laugh.

Even now, though, he wasn't sure whether Banter had been kidding or not.

Hawk had brushed the High Mage's warning aside. "Adred's not all bad. They've got a good parts supplier. A coupla people from Autozam live there—my cousin, for one. He wants me to find a place there, but after I'm finished in Cephiro I'm moving home, maybe settle down, start a family, you know?"

"Still," Banter had cut in, "Adred has nothing you need. Besides, you're going north."

"Here," Hawk added, pointing to the map. "The Forest of Silence."

Li had folded her arms and interrupted here. "I thought you said you didn't know where we were supposed to go."

Hawk had shrugged at this. "I asked Mokona this morning. He says go north, and I say do whatever he says."

So here they were, doing what Mokona said, heading north across a wide plain speckled with a tree here and there. Farther up, Mako could see that the trees were becoming a little more dense. He wondered when they would be able to see the forest itself, and if there was a particular reason it was called the Forest of Silence. _Maybe it's just extremely quiet in there,_ he thought as he walked, _or maybe it was named after someone named Silence—_

Without warning, the voice of a woman sounded from somewhere above him: "So it's true! Princess Ciela actually summoned the Magic Knights!"

As one, the group stopped and looked up. A silhouette of a person stood on a large branch twenty feet up the side of a towering oak. Mako tried to see her clearly, but to no avail; she stayed covered in shadow.

The woman spoke again. "From what I hear, this was a big sacrifice on her part. Too bad."

"Who are you?" Mako called up, not noticing Mokona as the guide backed away.

The woman did not hesitate. She leaped off her branch, performed a graceful flip in midair, and landed on her feet just in front of him.

The first thing Mako noticed clearly was that her hair was long and white—not with age, but as if it grew that way. The next, as she straightened herself, was that she was extremely pretty: deep blue eyes, smooth, tan skin, lips that curved up naturally. She stood tall, a full head over him, even though her short brown boots were not thick-soled. Her skirt was full-length on the sides and the back, but the hemline rose in an inverted V up past her knees. Her shirt, shorter and lower than anything Riuki was allowed to wear, exposed her navel and around three inches of skin beneath her neck, which was adorned with a thick, squareish golden necklace set with two shiny purple crystals. She held a carefully polished wooden staff with a small purple globe perched on top.

Li repeated Mako's question. "Who _are_ you?"

The woman smiled, showing perfectly straight, white teeth. "My name is Cirrus."

"Oh," said Li, as if the name explained everything. "Well, I'm Li, this is Mako, and that's—"

Cirrus pointed her staff at Li's chest, and the redhead broke off in a scream of pain, one that she continued even while Cirrus spoke: "It really doesn't matter. I am here to kill you." She tilted the staff upwards.

As though being picked up by a giant invisible hand, Li was lifted off her feet, dangling a yard off the ground, both hands over her heart, crying out as if being struck over and over and over.


	11. On Cloud Nine

Chapter eleven… _On Cloud Nine_

Mako lunged at the newcomer, but she danced to the side, keeping the staff stretched towards Li's heart. "You don't want to get in my way," she sang out as he came at her again. "I could hurt your friend even worse than I am now… do you really want that to happen?"

Li screamed again. Against her will, it seemed, tears were streaming down her face. They were running out of time.

Mako threw his hands out at Cirrus. "_Leviathan Blade!_"

"_Barrier Shield!_" she countered immediately.

The dragon of water spiraled out from Mako's hands at full force. _Come on,_ he urged it silently, _come on, come on…_

A sound like a brick being thrown through a window rang out. The dragon had drilled straight through the shield.

* * *

Keilin watched Cirrus dive to her right, tucking the staff under her, causing the dragon to miss by four feet. Li dropped heavily to the ground. Keilin ran forward, trying to help her up before Cirrus could regain her composure, her arm outstretching as she moved—

Movement far ahead in a cluster of trees caught her eye: another silhouette hiding in shadow. Someone else.

_No,_ she thought, _we can't handle more than this, we can't even handle one._

Cirrus was rising. Mako rushed forward to deal her another blow.

Keilin yanked Li up with less grace than she could have given and looked back to the shadow in the trees.

Still there. Retreating. Good.

"What are you looking at?" Li asked, following her gaze. "I don't see anything."

"Are you okay?" Keilin asked, still keeping an eye on the shadow.

Li nodded. "Yeah."

"Go help Mako," Keilin said. "Tell him we may have company."

Li obediently bounded off.

The shadow stopped. Keilin prepared herself to cast Angel Wing, waiting.

Two eyes opened on the shadow's face. The rest of the body remained shrouded in obscurity, but these two eyes, clear as day, stood in a sharp contrast to the darkness.

Keilin felt her breath catch in her chest. "Cail?" she asked, shocked.

"_Flame Dagger!_" came Li's voice from somewhere to her left. Cirrus gave a cry, then called forth another spell, and Mako yelled in pain; he recovered and answered with his own magic, and Cirrus shrieked again.

_Hi, Keilin._

"What are you doing here?"

_I wanted to talk to you._

"This really isn't a good time—"

_Your friends will be fine._

Keilin glanced over her shoulder. Li had latched onto the staff with the purple orb on top, and she and Cirrus were engaged in a furious tug-of-war for it; both of them were spouting insults and threats at each other, and Mako was standing off to the side, as if he wasn't sure what to do. His face was unusually red.

"But she could kill them. She said she's going to," Keilin said, looking back towards the trees.

_Are you coming or not?_

"Cail, can't this wait?"

The shadow began to retreat again.

_Yes or no, Keilin. Follow me._

It was gone.

Keilin looked one more time at the unfolding scene, then took off into the trees ahead of her as quickly as she dared.

* * *

Cirrus finally managed to wrench the staff out of Li's hands. She swung it around and aimed it at Mako, who had been prepared to cast magic again; he felt sharp, white-hot pain explode throughout his chest, and he half expected to burst into flames. His throat was raw, swelling, he was choking—

—and suddenly it was over. He gasped in a cool lungful of fresh air and looked up to see Li holding a large stick in both hands like a baseball bat, beating wildly in Cirrus' general direction. Three long scratches on the woman's shoulder were yielding blood: apparently, Li had scored a hit. Cirrus either didn't notice or simply ignored the cuts; she swung her staff around and met the stick in midair. A loud _crack_ resounded, and Li's weapon was snapped in half; the pieces of the stick flew in different directions. Inertia drove the globe on the staff into Li's side, and the girl fell to her knees. Cirrus laughed once, then prepared for a spell to finish her off.

She had forgotten that Mako was behind her.

The shorter, thicker half of the stick hit her squarely in the side of the head. Mako had, for lack of any better plan, just thrown it at her as hard as he could.

Cirrus cursed and swung herself around to face him, a line of blood coursing from her temple into her silver hair. "You little—"

"_Leviathan Blade!_" Mako shouted.

Cirrus screamed, long, high, shrill, as the dragon left a sizable gash on her side; more of her blood showered the grass. There was a flash of light, and she was gone.

Li stood rubbing her side and staring at the vacant spot on the ground Cirrus had left. "Nice shot."

Mako shrugged. "I have good aim." He hesitated, then added, "She'll come back. That just grazed her."

"Let's go before she decides to make another appearance, then," Li suggested quickly. "With this and that other person Keilin saw—"

"What?" Mako broke in.

Li's eyes widened. "I forgot to tell you! Keilin said she saw someone else farther in the trees. Isn't that right, Kei?" Her head swiveled right, then left, as her expression grew puzzled. Mako took a quick survey of the area too.

Keilin was gone.

"Crap," he muttered under his breath. "She didn't go after them herself, did she?"

"Or else _they_ took _her_," Li suggested, voice tremulous.

Mako felt the now-familiar tug on his pant leg and looked down to see Mokona, one paw still on his leg and the other pointing ahead of them. "Puu!"

"She's in there?" Mako asked, and Mokona nodded. He scooped their guide up. "Show me the way."

* * *

"Cail! Wait!" Keilin pushed herself over a large fallen log and continued forward, trying to keep the shadow in sight as it led her farther in. The trees became more and more numerous, taller, closer together, until it became clear that they were well into the forest by now. "Where are we going? Why couldn't we just talk back there?"

_I wanted to talk to _you_, not the others,_ he answered, sounding farther off than he had before.

Keilin picked up her pace. "Could you slow down? I'm in a skirt!"

_Just a little farther._

The shadow vanished behind a thick curtain of vines. It took Keilin half a minute to reach it as well. She hesitated, then ducked through to the other side.

She emerged in a tiny circular clearing, just big enough for a few people to stand under a canopy of leaves so thick the sky could not be seen at all. It was dark, quiet, and unsettling. She turned around once. The shadow was gone. "Cail?"

_Above you._

Keilin looked up and turned to her right. The shadow crouched on a large branch around ten feet up a tree. Even though this was the closest she had ever been to him, she still couldn't see him well, just those clear-as-day storm-sky eyes on the silhouette. "Are you coming down?"

_Not yet._

She hadn't really expected him to, but she felt a little disappointed anyway. "What is this about?"

_So you are one of the Magic Knights that Ciela summoned?_

"Yes."

_I saw you use your magic in Farway. That was quite impressive._

She didn't answer. She felt a little uneasy. Why was Cail only interested in her?

_Do you know how the Magic Knights are selected, Keilin?_

"No."

_The spell Ciela used seeks out the three people in your world who have the strongest and purest hearts, emotions, wishes and dreams at that exact moment. Mako's intense desire for perfection and his overprotective attitude toward his sister, Li's childlike innocence, they helped select those two for the position._

Keilin frowned. "That can't be right. Why was _I_ selected, then? My heart isn't strong. Not like his. And… I don't have Li's… 'childlike innocence,' if that's what you call it. I thought this Magic Knight thing was about doing the right thing, making everyone happy, bringing light to the world. All I know is darkness."

_What is it you desire, then?_

"What do you mean? I want nothing more than to go home."

_I don't think that's true, and I don't think you're fooling yourself either._ He paused, then added, _There's something that you desperately want, and I think it's related to this darkness you've drowned in._

For a moment, Keilin heard her voice echoing inside her head, a memory of six years ago, heard the cries, the sobbing, could almost feel the bruise on her cheek. _No,_ she thought, _that's impossible. There's no way he could know._ Aloud, she snapped, "What, you're my psychiatrist now? I want nothing, okay?!"

_Keilin—_

"No. I don't want to talk about this. Just forget it."

_Did something happen to you?_

"No!" she yelled up at him, resisting the temptation to stamp her foot as she said it. "Nothing happened, okay? Now drop it!"

_Alright._

This shocked her. She had expected him to continue pressing, trying to force something—anything—out of her. Knowing full well that he didn't believe a word she had just snapped at him, she glared at the shadow on the branch. "Was there anything else? I need to get back to the others."

_Then I'll make this quick,_ he answered, and his young voice seemed a little wooden. _The Spring of Eterna is dangerous. I've hidden something for you between the roots of this tree. It should be of some help._

Keilin muttered an automatic, toneless "thank you".

Cail's shadowed form shifted positions slightly. _Keilin, I know you don't trust me completely. That's alright. I'm willing to wait and prove to you that you_ _can_ _trust me._ He paused again, then continued when she offered no response: _Your friends are coming. I'll see you later._

The eyes closed, and the shadow seemed to melt into the deeper shadows of the trees.

Keilin slowly walked forward and knelt down by the foot of the tree he had stood on. Something lay wrapped in a drab piece of cloth between two of the bigger roots.

She drew away the cloth and almost gasped out loud. A knife lay on the grass, a twelve-inch, extremely sharp narrow blade that glimmered even in the dim light, with a golden handle set with two small emeralds on either side.

She was afraid to touch it, as if it would suddenly jump up and slice her arm open the way her magic had hit the chimera. It seemed both large and small at the same time, it seemed to glow from within, it seemed to ask her to take it—

"Keilin? _Kei!_"

She started, and her head whipped around over her shoulder.

Li was holding the vines back, Mako and Mokona standing just behind her. "Kei," Li said again, "what are you doing? Where have you _been_?"

Keilin looked back to the knife. Quickly, she made to cover it again, but when her finger touched the handle, it vanished and a streak of green light soared into the orb on her glove, which glowed for half a second before going dark again.

_What on earth?_ she wondered silently.

"Kei?" Li asked for the third time. "Are you okay? What the heck were you doing anyway?"

Keilin straightened up quickly. "I was trying to find whatever it was I saw," she said, deciding that it was close enough to the truth to mollify her conscience.

Mako stared at her in disbelief. "You should have waited! We're not supposed to split up!" he said sharply.

Keilin folded her arms. "What if they'd attacked from behind?" she asked, her voice falling back to the dull quality she was used to using around others.

"What if they'd attacked _you_?" Li retorted.

"There wasn't anyone there," Keilin lied, completely ignoring her conscience now. "And I _do_ have magic now, if you've forgotten already!"

"That's beside the point," Mako started, but she cut him off. "That's _exactly_ the point. I can take care of myself." She knew she sounded childish; she just didn't care. After practically biting Cail's head off, she had enough anger in her to dish it out on anyone who would listen.

Mako didn't seem bothered. "We could have used your help in fighting Cirrus, then," he said quietly.

Keilin found herself unable to answer.

They glared at each other for nearly half a minute before she broke eye contact, scooped up Mokona in a less-than-gentle manner, and muttered, "Let's just go."


	12. Tensions

Chapter twelve… _Tensions_

Li Kimoi hated situations like this.

She was a peacemaker. Being caught in the midst of friction made her uncomfortable—especially friction she knew she herself could not smooth over.

This was a friction she could not smooth over alone.

She felt that Mako and Keilin were both right in one sense and wrong in another. It was obvious that Keilin could use her magic effectively; all the same, Li couldn't see any reason why she should just abandon the others and go running off alone. And anyway, if there really hadn't been anyone there, then why had she gone so far in, and why had she been crouching near that tree?

It wasn't making much sense.

Li shook her head as they walked. _Maybe if I wasn't such an airhead I could figure this out,_ she thought unhappily. _At least then I could help everyone to stop being mad at each other._

Something strange happened then. Mokona chose that moment to scramble from Keilin's arms to her shoulder, and as he did, one of his long ears brushed her cheek.

Keilin had obviously been very deep in thought; she gave a startled yelp and jerked away, throwing Mokona to the ground, and her arm was halfway raised in front of her face before she seemed to realize what had happened. She froze in that position, her eyes trailing Mokona as he rolled over once, shook himself off, and peered at her quizzically.

Li realized that maybe she was closer to understanding than she had thought.

Keilin stood straight; her lips parted, then pressed together, as if she were uncertain of what to do. A moment later, she turned on her heel and began walking again without another sound.

Mokona didn't chase her. He bounced into Mako's arms and jerked his head twice, indicating their need to keep moving.

Li and Mako exchanged a glance that asked a thousand questions, but answered none, before continuing forward.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without event. They shared the innkeeper's offering of food a little past noon, then continued forward wherever Mokona saw fit to lead them—which, oftentimes, included 180-degree turns, treks through annoyingly thick and prickly foliage, and, once, a large hollow log that he demanded they were to crawl through, not walk beside.

Compared with yesterday's wanderings, though, Mako found no reason to complain.

And, of course, Li did.

"I don't trust that thing!" she hissed in his ear for the thirteenth time since lunch. "It doesn't know where the heck it's going, just look at it, it's leading us in circles, we've passed this tree before—"

Mako resisted the temptation to clap his hand over her mouth. "Didn't Banter say he was a reliable guide?"

"No," Keilin answered tonelessly, not even turning around to face them. "Hawk said that. Banter just agreed with him."

Li stopped and stared at her. "How is it you remember everything they said?" she asked incredulously.

Mako was wondering the same thing, but he decided to address the previous problem instead. "It doesn't matter. Banter and Hawk both trust him, and he apparently guided Ciela well enough. I vote that we follow him."

Li shrugged. "It's your vote that counts." She hesitated, apparently debating with herself about something, then asked in a lower tone, "Mako, I've been thinking… what do you think about Princess Ciela?"

Mako met her gaze and chose his words carefully. "What do you mean, what do I think?"

"Oh, you know perfectly well what I mean," she answered sharply, but then her tone softened again almost instantaneously. "I saw your sister at the Tower, and I thought I saw her again when Banter showed us the Pillar. Riuki—that's her name, right?—she and Ciela could be identical twins."

"If they're not the same person," Mako muttered under his breath.

"But that's just the point," Li said. "I want to know what you think. Is Riuki Ciela? Or maybe they're completely different people and we just have it all wrong. I don't know. I can't figure this out. Give me your take on this."

Mako thought it over in silence for so long that at one point Keilin looked over her shoulder to see if they were still with her. Finally, he shook his head and said, "I don't know." At Li's disappointed face, he added, "It could go either way. That girl Banter showed us could have been her clone, but Riuki was with me when we were summoned here. Unless she was taken too—but that's impossible, only three people were taken from the Tower, Banter said so…" He realized he was just thinking out loud now, but he didn't stop himself. "He also said that Ciela went on the quest to be a Magic Knight and protected the world for a year before becoming Pillar. So that means that she would have had to been summoned at least… around 830 years ago, give or take... Li, I don't know. I'd swear on my life that the girl on the pillow was Riuki, but logically, that just can't be right."

"There's a way we can find out," Li said slowly. "But that'd mean a whole bunch of senseless deaths…"

She had Mako's attention. "What did you just say?"

"If you were to simply ask her face-to-face," Li replied. "But the break in her prayers would allow for monsters to be spawned."

Ethics, wielding the sword of Innocent Lives, stabbed Curiosity through the heart. Mako sighed. "Of course, the easy way is the impossible way."

From up ahead, Keilin suggested flatly, "Just wait until we can go home. Ask Riuki about it."

"What if she _isn't_ home, assuming we ever get there?" Mako countered.

Keilin shrugged, her back still to him. "Then you'll know."

Mako could have hit her. Ethics dropped its sword in favor of the arrows of Not Hitting Girls On Your Side, however, and Mako restrained himself.

The sky was orange by now. That old proverb, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry," seemed on the verge of violation.

Even so, Mokona suddenly brought the group to a halt and motioned that it was time to set up camp.

"Whoa!" Li ran her hands over the smooth white exterior of the eggshell-shaped shelter. "So this fluffball actually stores stuff that we need?"

"Looks like it," Mako answered, looking from the shelter to Mokona and back again. "There's more to him than we thought."

"Yeah." Li cracked the door open, then flung it wide. "Wow! Look at this! There's—" Here she broke off with a laugh. "There's two rooms. He doesn't trust you, Mako!"

Mokona made no effort to deny this.

Li, thankfully, dropped the subject and advanced into the shelter, her voice trailing to the others outside. "The rooms look pretty similar from here… hey, there's food! Oh, and good, there's an extra blanket, I woke up freezing this morning…" Her head poked out of the door again. "Aren't you guys coming?"

* * *

Strangely enough, Mokona had provided everything they could have needed, asked for, or even remotely felt like having for the night. The meal on the table lived up to the inn's banquet in every aspect—except quantity, of course—and the quarters were warm and comfortable. It was almost like a hotel, Mako thought as he slid into bed two hours later.

Hotel, heck. When the lights went out, he could almost believe he was home.

That thought drained some of the comfort out of the whole experience.

Home…

* * *

Cirrus, cursing out loud every step of the way, finally reached the edge of the forest and stopped for breath.

Then she took one more step forward and exited the forest completely.

A man's voice laughed from somewhere to her right. "Couldn't find them, could you?"

"Shut up," she shot back, and the globe on her staff flashed dangerously. "I could if it wasn't the _Forest of Silence_ I was tracking them through!"

Her companion snorted in disgust. "That's just your problem. You rely too heavily on magic."

"Don't start with me, Stratus," she snarled. "We're just outside the forest. I could kill you easily here."

"Not before I sliced you in two," Stratus answered lazily. A metal _shing_ sounded forth: the sound of a sword being partly unsheathed.

Cirrus pointed her staff at him, and the globe once again began to glow, washing them both in its soft light. "If you're such a big shot," she hissed, "then go in there yourself and find them. Good luck trying to see in there; it's pitch black, and they have a good six, seven, maybe eight-hour head start."

Stratus shook his head, and when he spoke, it was with the tone of a parent humoring a child: "Cirrus, Cirrus, Cirrus, that isn't the way to go. You should be able to figure this out. It isn't hard."

Sparks of electricity crackled around the lit globe as its owner unthinkingly channelled anger to magic. "If you have an idea, cut the crap and let me hear it."

"Let the Knights reach the Spring of Eterna," Stratus said with a sort of sly anticipation. "Follow them in and attack; you can use magic there. At the very least, you'll wear them out. If you don't kill them, the Trials will. And if they somehow survive that, you'll be waiting again."

Cirrus' lip curled into a sneer, but she fingered her staff in a sign of consideration. Finally, she gripped the wooden shaft with both hands tightly. Her expression gave way to a smile. "You know, Stratus, for being a big, incompetent waste of space and resources, this may be the single most intelligent thing you'll ever say," she said, grinning.

Stratus sheathed his sword. "I'll kill you for that comment later. Enjoy the Spring."

"I will," Cirrus answered, the malicious smile still toying with the corners of her mouth. "I think we all will."

* * *

Mako slowly drifted upwards, felt his consciousness define itself, and soon had broken the surface of the deep sea of sleep.

He blinked, staring absently at the wall, before realizing where he was.

Home, apparently, had been a dream.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and took a deep waking breath as he surveyed the room. Light filtered in through the window, and he saw Mokona curled in the sunbeam.

"Hey," he called; their guide twitched, but didn't wake.

Mako proved his aim with a pillow as precise as his aim with a stick. It hit Mokona and snapped him out of sleep immediately.

"_Pu?!_" he screeched, half in shock, half in sleepy anger. Mako allowed him a few seconds to collect his wits before posing his question.

"Is there a bathroom in here?"

Mokona sighed noisily. The orb on his forehead flashed, and he pointed to a door that hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

Mako nodded his thanks and, without even wondering how Mokona knew what a _bathroom_ was, went through it.

* * *

When he returned (and Mokona had helped him with his armor again), he left the shelter and examined their surroundings in decent light for the first time.

Not that it helped him, of course; he was still as lost as ever.

Li poked her head out of the door ten minutes later, still wearing a long nightgown, her brick-red hair going wherever it pleased. She tried—and failed—to stifle a yawn, then asked, "What are you doing out here?"

Mako shrugged. "It's a nice morning."

"I'll bet," Li muttered as she turned around to retreat back indoors. "C'mon, we found breakfast set up on your table."

"What were you doing in there?" Mako asked, blinking once.

"Looking for the bathroom," came Li's voice from inside.

* * *

Breakfast turned out to be a wide variety of breads and fruits the group had never seen before; they were very good, despite the fact that half the fruit housed annoyingly small pits and the other half contained large ones.

Within twenty minutes, all three of them were fed, dressed, washed, and fully awake. When they left the eggshell-shelter, it glowed red for a moment, then vanished into the orb on Mokona's forehead.

However, Li, who was just as impressed as she had been the night before, still refused to walk near the living storage shed.

Mako didn't say a word about it. The girl was nuts. She'd get over it in time. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe.


	13. The Trials of Eterna

Chapter thirteen… _The Trials of Eterna_

"Well, this is just fantastic!" Li cried, sounding close to hysterics.

"Hang on," Mako muttered.

The girl's eyes filled with tears. "What are we going to _do_?"

"I said, hang on! Just let me think!"

A large tentacle slammed into the ground right in front of them, creating a brand new crater in the dirt.

"We don't have time for you to think, Mako!" Li cried.

"Calm down," Keilin shot at her, although her own voice trembled a little as she said it.

Mako stared at her until another tentacle whomped the ground a little too close for comfort. He edged backwards as far as he dared.

How on earth had they gotten themselves into this mess?

During the first monster ambush, he had felt almost overconfident up to the point when the group had discovered their appalling lack of magic.

After maybe seven failed attempts at casting Angel Wing, Keilin had softly suggested running. And run they did.

"It's the—Forest of—_Silence_," she'd gasped as they fled for their lives, the monster's tendrils ripping whole trees from the ground just yards behind them. "We—can't use magic—until we're out—of the forest…"

"Then what—are we going—to do?" Li had asked, horrified, and Mako had answered "Keep running!" as loudly as he could while pushing her forward and following his own advice.

They'd lost the monster, been ambushed again by a different one, and started the whole process over at least three times before the first creature somehow appeared _in front of them_, vine-tentacles lashing; Mako threw Li to the right this time, and the group followed her until the ground sloped inwards and upwards sharply and then simply stopped: they were standing on a precipice with barely enough room for the three of them to stand side-by-side. The monster slowed considerably on the slope, but didn't stop; vine-tendrils strained to reach them, pounded the dirt, came closer.

Behind them, one angry tentacled creature crawling up the hill. In front of them, an almost ninety-degree dropoff with at least twenty feet to the ground.

_Oh, crap_ was the only thing coming to Mako's mind.

"_Flame Dagger!_" Li tried for the hundredth time. It did nothing, which didn't surprise any of them a great deal. Another tentacle snaked out, nearly touching Keilin's leg; she stepped back as far as she could, leaving just inches between herself and open air. Li grabbed Mako's arm. "Have you thought of anything _yet_?"

Mako glanced over his shoulder. "It isn't _that_ far down," he said, for lack of anything else. "Oh—wait… ouch, those rocks look really sharp…"

"That's not exactly reassuring," Li groaned.

A tentacle wrapped around Mako's boot. He looked up.

The creature was opening its mouth wide, revealing at least three rows of extremely painful-looking teeth, glistening with saliva.

_Crap._

A light flashed on his left. Before he'd even turned his head, Keilin was thrusting something into his hands, shouting "Here take it take it just use it already," and he didn't even question how on earth she'd managed to find it, he just lunged forward and stabbed the tentacle with the dagger as hard and as quickly as he could, three, four, five times; the monster screeched, and the tendril was withdrawn, and greenish-brown liquid was spilling over the grass; Li was yelling at Keilin, and Keilin was yelling at him, and the monster was advancing again with its jaws snapping—

_Your will is strong. Extremely strong. If you believe it enough, it will happen._ The memory of Banter's voice floated into Mako's head, randomly, the most inopportune time…

Well, maybe not.

He focused himself, saw the knife embed itself in the monster's hide all the way to the handle. _Here goes nothing._ He threw it.

The creature let out a shriek and fell dead almost instantly, the dagger cleaving its forehead neatly down the middle.

Mako stared at it for a second, then allowed himself a grin. _Cool._

Li crept closer, inspecting the carcass and gingerly drawing out the knife. "What," she said slowly, holding it up to Keilin. "The heck. Is _this_?"

The blonde met her gaze. "I found it."

"You _found_ it," Li repeated. "For heaven's sake, you found it and had it and didn't _tell_ us earlier? Where on earth did you _find_ it?"

"In that clearing yesterday," Keilin answered in a tone that closed the conversation.

Out of nowhere, Mokona barrelled into Mako's chest and nearly knocked him backwards over the edge of the precipice.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, struggling to regain his balance and glaring at their fluffy white guide. "What if I'd fallen? You'd be down to two Knights!"

Mokona, showing unbelievable force and speed, sprang at him again before he'd completely steadied himself. The two of them fell together.

* * *

"Mako!" Li shrieked, scrambling up the incline.

Keilin threw out an arm to stop her. "Stay back. _Stay back!_" she snapped while ignoring her own orders and staring over the edge, her face reflecting blank shock.

_Splash._

Li felt the blood drain from her face. "He hit the ground. Oh my word, there were rocks down there. Kei, don't tell me he's…"

"Li," Keilin said quietly, her gaze still fixed on the ground below, "there's more than rocks below us."

The redhead, valiantly suppressing every gory image her brain was creating, pushed past Keilin's arm and looked down.

She saw Mokona backstroking in a rippling pool. Mako was nowhere to be seen.

_What?_

"There's a shadow under that water," Keilin noticed, pointing. "Li, that's a floating circle of water."

Li stared at her. "But that's impossible."

"So's a floating island," Keilin answered.

"Pu," called Mokona.

"So where's Mako?" Li asked.

"_Pu!_" Mokona repeated impatiently, and he dived under the surface. He did not reappear in the open space between the water and the ground.

The girls looked down at the two-dimensional pool, then at each other.

"We jump on the count of three," Li sighed.

* * *

Mako watched the circle of light above him shrink as he sank like a brick.

He was an excellent swimmer in most cases, but here he couldn't move at all, was frozen in place as he descended through water that—strangely—he could breathe like air.

If he ever made it back to the surface, he was going to _kill_ that "reliable guide" and everyone who had vouched for him.

* * *

"One," Li counted. "Two…"

"Three," finished Cirrus' voice; the woman grabbed her shoulder, spun her around and delivered a sharp blow just underneath Li's armor.

Li screamed. Doubling over, she stumbled backwards, lost her footing, and toppled over the edge of the cliff.

Cirrus cast a hard, cold glare at Keilin, then swan-dived after her.

* * *

"Mako! Hey, Mako, get up!"

A hand on his shoulder. A delighted laugh.

"You're so cute when you're sleeping."

Mako shot into a sitting position. Riuki's eyes danced in the dim light, and she sat back, grinning. "Morning, sleepy!"

Mako lunged and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Riuki! Is that you? What are you doing here? Where have you been?"

Riuki laughed and pushed him off. "One at a time! Goodness, since when are you such a morning person?"

"Ever since I lost track of you at Tokyo Tower," Mako answered. "Riuki, what happened?"

His sister glanced right, then left, then beckoned with one finger for him to come close. She leaned forward until her head was almost on his shoulder. "See, Mako, it's like this…"

He felt something pierce him just below where her chin was resting. Pain ripped through his shoulder; he jerked back and looked down to see her push a silver knife further into his body, at the spot closest to his heart his armor allowed her to reach.

Her eyes gleamed with something more sinister than just light.

"…it's my duty to kill the Knights," Riuki finished.

Mako pushed himself backwards, horrified. His sister giggled and slid closer, retrieving her knife with one quick motion (making his arm feel as though it had caught fire) and pointing the tip to the floor so that his blood ran down the blade and fell in drips.

"Riuki," he said, "_why—?_"

"Why? Silly, why do you think I'm here in the first place?" she answered. "But don't worry, I'll make it less painful for you than for the girls."

* * *

Keilin watched from above as Cirrus swam downwards and caught Li's throat. Then they vanished altogether.

She stared at the innocently rippling surface with apprehension for maybe half a minute before tearing her gaze away, finding Cail's dagger, and wiping it clean on the grass; once again it stored itself in her glove, much like Mokona had stored their shelter.

Trying not to remember that she was by no means an avid swimmer, she took a deep breath and jumped.

* * *

Li thrashed wildly as the older woman's hands clutched at her neck, but it was no use: they found their target and tightened considerably. Li choked.

Cirrus said something, but from her mouth came no sound, only bubbles. Her thumbs pressed harder against the girl's windpipe.

Li desperately dragged her nails as hard as she could along Cirrus' arm, causing the woman to wince, expel more air, and loosen her grip only slightly.

It was just enough for Li to get her teeth on Cirrus' other arm. She bit down with everything she had.

The sorceress' scream was muffled, but visible in a thousand bubbles of air that raced for the surface. Her hands released Li's neck as the girl, thoroughly disgusted by the taste of blood, fell down into darkness.

* * *

Mako and Riuki circled each other, the former clutching his stab wound, the latter cutely smirking.

This was insane. Impossible. Riuki couldn't be doing this. Not the Riuki he knew.

And yet there she was, sidestepping in perfect sync with him, her right hand equipped with a dagger stained with blood—_his_ blood.

If his shoulder hadn't been paining him to the point of tears, he would have sworn he had simply hit his head too hard.

"Mako," Riuki sang softly, "aren't you glad to see me?"

"What happened to you?" he asked, still moving to his right. "Do you remember who you are?"

She simply giggled.

Before Mako's brain could process the blur that was her arm, fiery pain stabbed his left thigh. He yelled and dropped to his right knee, his arm releasing his shoulder and rushing to hold the new wound.

Riuki performed a neat handspring and plucked the knife out of his leg, deepening the wound as much as she could before leaping away again.

Blood soaked his pant leg. Silent tears of extreme pain blurred his vision; he blinked them away and looked up to see his sister aiming the blade at his unprotected midsection.

* * *

Keilin found herself sprawled on a cold floor. She sat up, gingerly rubbing her temples.

What on earth had just happened? Where were Cirrus and Li, or Mokona and Mako? Where was _she?_

A gust of wind hit her, chilling her to the bone… except it wasn't wind, because her clothes and hair didn't move… what was this sudden chill?

It was then that she saw it: the shadow in the far reaches of the area.

"Cail?" she called tentatively, shivering.

The silhouette was smoky and blurry, as if it was unshifting smoke; it seemed to melt into the overall darkness of the room.

It was holding an arm out to her.

Still covered in goose bumps from the icy blast of wind-but-not-quite-wind, she pulled herself to her feet.

_Come._

"Cail, is that you? What are you doing here?"

_Come._

Keilin shivered again and hesitated, but then started forward.

* * *

Li awoke to the sensation of someone else's presence. She opened her eyes slowly, and a blurry face swam into view.

Then her vision grew clearer, and she yelped and sat upright, her face flushing.

"H-high Mage! I'm sorry, I must have… I… wait, what are you doing here in the forest with us?"

Banter's strong face echoed concern. "Your neck is bruised, Lady Li," he said.

Li touched her throat and winced as she felt the skin throb under her fingertips. "I had a run-in with this Cirrus character who tried to—hang on, since when have I been _Lady_ Li to you?"

"Since beginning your noble quest to save our land." Banter straightened to his full height and looked down at her on the floor.

Li stared at him with her mouth open. This great man naming _her_, of all people, with a term of respect?

Banter continued. "Had you finished your journey, however, you would have been Lady Knight as well. However…"

A beam of scarlet light shot from his palm, twisted around her ankles, and spiraled up to her calves, binding her legs together as if with rope.

"…you will never reach that title, because it ends here."

Terrifying reality flooded Li's mind as if someone had dumped icy water over her head. She shrieked and rolled sideways as another shot of energy smashed the ground she had just been sitting on. The sound was deafening.

"Y-you're not the mage!" she gasped, pulling herself to her knees and desperately trying to stand. "Who are you? You didn't hurt him, did you? Oh, no, no—" The possibility that the real Banter had been killed frightened her even more than the smoking crater that should have been her grave. "You _didn't_ hurt him, you can't have!" She felt close to hysterics. "And Mako and Kei? What about them? Oh, my word, no, please, no…" The words kept tumbling from her lips as she kneeled before the image of the man forming a new energy blast that would silence her forever.


	14. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Chapter fourteen… _Blood, Sweat and Tears_

Mako tried to throw himself sideways, but his injured leg crumpled underneath him; he pitched to the floor and landed on his left shoulder. Blood spattered his face.

And here came Riuki, giggling again.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" she said sweetly. "Let's see your willpower evade this."

_Willpower?_

_Your will is strong…_ echoed the High Mage's voice again.

Of course.

The knife sang as it flew towards his midsection, aimed perfectly to kill—and at the last possible moment it veered ever so slightly to the right, hitting Mako's right shoulder… the one protected by the armor. With a clatter that rebounded off the far walls, Riuki's weapon dropped to the floor.

_I can make her miss just by believing I can,_ Mako thought. _Cool._

His sister's mouth hung open for a full three seconds, and then her face hardened. She glared at him through eyes narrowed to slits.

"Even the High Mage Banter would have a hard time doing that little trick you just pulled," she hissed. "I underestimated your heart. But make no mistake—" Here she pushed her right hand into the open air before her, and another knife appeared there— "I won't be taking any chances this time."

Something nagged at the back corner of Mako's mind. What was it?

Riuki had started for him by now.

It was something important. Really important. Life-and-death important.

She was taking her time. In no rush. All the time in the world.

_What_ was his brain trying to scream at him?

A mental image of Riuki at Tokyo Tower flashed before Mako's eyes. Something came floating back to him, as if it were driftwood in the ocean of his mind.

"If you fell," he said, watching this girl march towards him, her knife ready for blood, "I'd catch you."

Her mouth twisted in a small sneer. "That's cute."

"There's just one problem," Mako continued. "I wasn't talking to you."

He picked up the first knife and threw it as hard as he could.

* * *

_Come._

"I'm coming," Keilin answered for the third time. Why was the trek across the room taking so long? It wasn't that far.

_Come._

"I _am_."

She reached the shadow sometime later, but whether that time could be measured in minutes or hours or days would remain a mystery forever. She stopped just a yard or two in front of the silhouette.

"Cail, what's going on? What are you even doing here?" she began, but something held back her next questions. She blinked twice.

"Cail? Is that you?"

_Come._

"I'm right here."

_Enter._

It wasn't her kindred spirit's voice, but a low, gutteral hiss that entered the deepest part of her mind.

The silhouette backed into the larger shadow and melted away completely; the dark mass seemed to writhe like a living thing and expand. Keilin's breaths came quicker and shorter.

"What is this?"

_Join the darkness._

"_What?!_"

_Join the darkness you fight endlessly. Embrace it and rest from the battle._

Keilin took a step backwards, and then another. "No," she said to the very thing she had once claimed as a comfort and a familiarity. Senseless terror rose in her heart, and she felt as if she were about to vomit. "No!"

Fingers of shadow protruded from the mass and snaked up her legs. One wrapped around her waist.

_Enter the world you created for yourself._

They were on her arms. Her chest, her neck.

_Come._

She screamed, and insubstantial shadow filled her mouth and nose, she was breathing it in, she couldn't shake it off, couldn't get rid of it—

"_You worthless trash,_" screamed a memory's voice, "_it's your fault, all of it, you have no place here, anywhere, because no one wants a piece of useless crap like you—_"

_No one except the darkness, Keilin._

She screamed louder, and it wasn't until the height of the cry that she realized she was yelling Cail's name.

And just when she was about to pass out from fright combined with lack of oxygen, she heard a different voice from the hissing tone probing her mind:

"That isn't true!"

A brilliant flash of light followed.

Keilin, dazed and on the brink of unconsciousness, wondered if she was insane.

* * *

Li somehow pulled herself to her feet, shaky and unbalanced, unable to move her legs except at the knees. She launched herself to her left and skidded almost five feet on the slick surface of the ground. Another explosion created a new smoking gap where she had been.

"Just tell me if the others are alright!" Li screamed at the mage-that-wasn't-the-mage. "Why are you trying to kill me? Who are you anyway?"

The false Banter's only reply was another beam of energy. Li rolled, feeling the heat of the impact. _That was too close,_ she thought. _I can't avoid another one like that. Oh, help me, help me, someone please help me…_

The counterfeit Banter summoned another ball of energy, grinning.

Li looked around frantically. She couldn't escape and she couldn't defend herself. That left one option: attack before non-Banter could.

But she had nothing to work with. Nothing… except…

* * *

Riuki screamed, clutching at the knife lodged in her stomach, exactly where she had intended to stab her brother. Mako sat and watched her.

His face was wet, covered in a mixture of blood, sweat, and tears.

This wasn't Riuki. It never had been. It was just a phantom, an image of the girl Mako wanted so desperately to find. His sister—the _real_ one—would never hurt him, not if her life depended on it.

Besides, the girl in front of him was not bleeding.

She certainly seemed in a great deal of pain, however; she doubled over with both hands on the hilt of the dagger and tugged it out of her abdomen, crying out as she did so.

Even though he knew it wasn't Riuki, Mako did not like the scene. He knew he would also irrationally hate himself for what he was about to do.

The image of his sister glared up at him helplessly as he approached.

He took the dagger from her hand and drove it home, deep into her chest.

* * *

Keilin, momentarily blinded by the flash of light, blinked wildly, trying her hardest not to black out.

Her mind was reeling. Where had that memory come from?

And what had the other voice meant… the one that had shouted, "That isn't true"?

She collapsed onto the floor, grasping at consciousness like a drowning person would a life preserver.

It was then that she saw that the darkness had vanished.

This did little to relieve her. She turned her head and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor, choking on it as it burned its way up her throat, and then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

She felt terrible. Something of huge importance had just happened, but her head was spinning, and she could hardly concentrate on staying awake, much less the voice and the shadow, but she dared not allow herself to slip into sleep because bad things would happen to her if she did—

"Are you alright?"

Keilin turned her head to the right. Her chest was heaving. "Who's there?"

A figure stepped into her field of vision. White light cloaked him almost completely, but Keilin could easily see his face: he was a young man of no more than sixteen, crowned with a mop of long, beautifully shaggy hair the color of sand, eyes the color of…

Keilin's breath caught in her throat.

Eyes the color of a storm.

_Cail._

Only he was here, not as a shadow or an outline on a window, but here with her. Ethereal, almost as if he were a vision, but _here_. Those eyes she knew so well were wide with concern.

She tried to stand, but he shook his head. "Stay where you are. Save your strength."

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked him, staring up in wonder. "That shadow said I would only be welcomed by darkness, and you said…"

"That's not true," Cail finished, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

Keilin felt like breaking down in hysterical sobs, but kept her composure—barely—and instead asked, "What happened to me?"

The smile on his face was gone as quickly as it had come. "I don't know. If I had to guess, I would say that you nearly fell victim to the darkness you carry in your heart." He shook his head slowly. "Remember, Keilin, things are different here in Cephiro than in your world. Your fears strengthen monsters, and your darkness can gain a life of its own and turn on you. Your willpower is your greatest asset now. Use it every chance you get"

A million different questions were all fighting to be asked, but Keilin was only half-aware of them now, more concerned instead with this boy in front of her, her mysterious guardian. She _wasn't_ dreaming, was she? Why was he suddenly more than a shadow on the window, or a figure in the trees? Who _was_ he?

"What happens now?" came out of her mouth at random.

Cail's face softened a little; he seemed to realize just how disoriented his kindred spirit was.

"You have survived the Trials of the spring," he said. "You will find the ore Escudo and will rejoin the others—if they survived their trials—and take the ore back to the Master Smith to be forged into a new weapon for you. Then you will continue on your quest to awaken the Rune Gods."

Keilin cocked her head. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Not now," Cail answered. "I didn't even want to show myself here just yet, but that shadow was about to drive you mad. I had to do something."

"I see." She paused. "I guess you heard everything? I… look, I'm sorry for what happened in the forest yesterday morning."

"No need to apologize," Cail said quietly. "Anyone who has what that voice yelled at you in their memory is entitled to their privacy."

Keilin clamped her mouth shut as another wave of nausea passed over her, then sat there shaking for a minute or two. Finally, she lifted her head. "Thanks, Cail."

But he was gone.

* * *

_Crack._

Non-Banter's energy blast vanished in midair with a flash of light that disoriented Li for a few seconds.

The false High Mage snarled something, but Li regained control of her senses again and stood at the ready.

Non-Banter's scarlet rope was clutched in her hands like a whip.

It had just hit her like lightning while she had searched for something, anything, to retaliate with: If Mako's willpower had enabled him to carry the real High Mage for four grueling hours in the sun, and if it had allowed him to defeat Cirrus single-handedly without magic, and if he could use it to kill a vine-monster in one hit with a dagger, then surely she could use hers to take something evil and put it to good use.

As non-Banter's blast had been launched, the energy rope had fallen from her legs and coiled loosely around her right arm.

And now Li was armed, steadily gaining confidence, and furious.

She took the offensive, a scarlet blur slicing through non-Banter's robes across his shoulder as neatly as a pair of scissors.

He threw out a hand to shoot another blast, but the whip was quicker: it wrapped around his wrist and snapped it downwards with a sound that could only mean it had broken a bone.

Non-Banter grunted something Li would never allow herself to repeat. She brought the rope of scarlet light down again and this time felt it cut across his chest.

He glared at her and began forward, no doubt hoping to finish what Cirrus had already started; his other large, strong hand reached for her—

—and the whip coiled around his neck.

Li drew in a breath. _It isn't really Banter,_ she reminded herself, _just a monster…_

The monster lunged forward and grabbed for her throat.

Li yanked the whip backwards as hard as possible. Even through the scarlet light, she could feel his neck snap.

Non-Banter choked and gurgled at the same time; a mixture of blood and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth as he involuntarily jerked backwards, then fell on his face. He twitched once. And then he was still.

His eyes remained open.

Li resisted the urge to throw up and cry at the same time.

* * *

Riuki's eyes shimmered with tears. She was smiling.

"So you willingly killed me?" she asked softly.

"You're not her," Mako muttered.

The drops spilled from her eyes and streaked down her face. "Maybe not… but this will haunt you forever, I promise you." She grew limp, slid out of his arms, and crumpled on the floor.

Even after watching her die, Mako did not give her the satisfaction of answering that statement. He knew she was right. But he said nothing.

Her body vanished, and he was plunged into darkness.


	15. Answers, and More Questions

Chapter fifteen… _Answers, and More Questions_

Keilin did not recall passing out. All she could remember was Cail's sudden and mysterious exit before finding herself coming to in a black space.

She knew it wasn't completely dark because she could see Li some ten feet to her left, picking herself up off the floor.

Mako sat in front of them, staring at the floor absently. So far he hadn't seemed to notice them.

Li winced as she rubbed a spot on her leg. She was mumbling to herself.

Keilin caught the words "non-Banter," wondered if she'd heard correctly, and decided not to think about it. "Li, are you okay?"

The redhead didn't _look_ okay. A large purple bruise had blossomed on her neck, her short hair was frizzy and disheveled, and there were singe marks on her boots. She seemed dazed, as if she was awake but dreaming.

Li's eyes flicked in Keilin's direction. "Kei? That you?"

"Ye—" Keilin began, but the girl cut her off. "Kei, I had to do it, and it wasn't really what it seemed like but it really feels like I… I…" She took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm not a bad person, am I? I just did what needed to be done, didn't have a choice, he was going to kill me and hurt everyone and _I never want to see that scene again_, but it keeps running through my mind…"

She dropped her head into her hand and stood there trembling quietly. "It won't go away," she finished in a very small voice.

Mako spoke for the first time since they had reunited, his tone firm and deathly solemn.

"I think that whatever happened to us here should _stay_ here."

It was then that Keilin noticed the huge, open gash in his thigh and the bloodstained wound on his shoulder.

_Well… we're not technically in the forest right now…_

"_Winds of Healing!_" she cried, feeling air immediately rise to her aid.

* * *

The blood pooling under his leg and spilling down his shirt vanished, and he felt both wounds close and repair themselves, felt strength and energy returned to his body.

But he stayed where he was.

Mako had no idea what horrors this place had conjured for the girls; all he knew was that Li's insane ramblings consisted of everything he felt right now.

He had killed a phantom, a shadow, an image. That was all.

Still…

_You willingly killed me?_

Something chose that moment to sparkle just above his head, immediately distracting him.

Three spots of light—one blue, one red, the other green—descended from above and then stopped in midair, hovering around five feet over their heads.

Li, whose neck was lacking its giant purple mark now, seemed to snap out of her little world as she stared upwards. "Whoa… what's that?"

"I don't know," Keilin answered, and almost as if on cue the lights faded, revealing three large chunks of something like translucent rock.

Mako realized it even before they were sealed into the ornaments on the backs of their gloves. "It's the escudo."

"Quite right," came a woman's voice as the ore vanished and the glove-orbs flashed briefly. "But then, you do seem to be on the bright side, boy."

Cirrus materialized in their midst. She brought her globed staff up and pointed it at Mako's chest.

"Frankly, I am surprised you passed the Trials," she said almost lazily, as if commenting on the weather. "I'm surprised you even made it through alive—and sane, no less. Everyone who falls in here either never comes out or spends the rest of their days babbling like an idiot to plants."

Amazingly, she did not call forth magic against him, but swung the staff around and pointed it at Li.

"You and I," she said in a suddenly icy tone, "have some issues to deal with, one of them being what I'm going to do to you for this." She stuck out her left arm, displaying the angry red bitemark, places of which were still open wounds. "And believe me, you're going to pay."

She abruptly turned again, giving Keilin a hard, cold stare, and then returned her attention to Mako.

"But you first. Revenge for our first meeting, boy."

Mako thrust out his hands. "_Leviathan Blade!_" he cried, and the water dragon exploded forward.

The attack hit Cirrus squarely, and for a split second Mako thought she was gone—but then the dragon vanished, and the sorceress was still there, malice glittering in her eyes.

As the group stared in disbelief, she laughed and said, "Oh, no, it won't be that easy for you. I've developed a way to repel that one. It's a pity for you, Knight of Water. There aren't even any sticks around here for you to throw at me."

"_Flame Dagger!_" Li shouted, and fire seared through the air—just like Mako's attack, it hit Cirrus full force, and yet it did nothing.

Cirrus's staff shot a bolt of lightning at Mako, whose brain hadn't even begun to register what was going on before it hit him. He was thrown backwards, landing in a heap on the ground, pain racing up and down his spine.

"_Angel Wing!_" came Keilin's voice, and now Mako blessed the magic that had been absent during the last fight; never having seen it before, Cirrus should be vulnerable to it. Sure enough, the sorceress shrieked in pain.

Mako grimaced as he got to his feet; the aftereffects of the lightning spell were still hurting him.

Cirrus was bleeding freely in three places. She gripped her left forearm briefly, shot a look of pure venom at Keilin's face, and—strangely—turned back to Mako.

"How many other tricks up your sleeve, boy?" she snarled, preparing to hit him with another lightning blast, which he dodged; the bolts reached his section of floor, exploding it with the force of a small bomb just a split second after he'd moved. Mako seized his chance and dove at her, attempting to tackle her to the ground, but the purple globe on her staff met his head halfway there.

It was a lot like having a hammer hit him on the skull. Mako blinked stars out of his field of vision as he tried to pick himself off the floor; he had almost heaved himself to his knees when the globe slammed into the small of his back.

Mako heard the _crack_ as his forehead collided with the ground, but it sounded far-off, and the pain felt relatively dull. His vision swam in and out of focus and turned dark at the edges. Li yelled something, but she sounded like she was underwater.

* * *

"Will you at least tell us why you're trying to kill us?" Li snapped as Cirrus prepared to fire another magic bolt at Mako's dazed figure. "We didn't do anything to you!"

The bolt, not yet fully formed, settled into a ball in the palm of Cirrus' hand, which she tossed in the air and caught lazily as she turned around.

"No," she admitted, "not that first time. Now, however, it's a matter of personal pride." She held the spell-sphere with the pads of her fingertips, angled so Li could see it clearly. "If you _must_ know, I'm under orders to kill you."

"Under orders?" Keilin repeated. "Orders from whom?"

Cirrus flashed her a dark sort of smirk. "Do you honestly think I'd tell you?" And without waiting for a reply, she spun on her heel and smashed her staff onto Mako's spine again, crushing his new valiant attempts to stand up.

"Let's just say I'm not the only person in Cephiro who doesn't want you here," she continued, as if nothing had happened.

Li's mouth was slightly open as she put two and two together.

"Your boss is the one messing with Ciela's dreams," she said slowly. "And you're here to kill us so we can't stop it."

"Mostly," Cirrus answered. "And kill you I shall."

"Mostly?" Li repeated, but Cirrus did not answer; the sphere in the sorceress' hand flashed, then unraveled into a bolt of lightning that exploded, scorching the Knights like a wall of fire.

* * *

Mako groaned. He could feel his head throbbing and the two tender spots on his back blossoming into bruises. Rather than lie still, though, he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Princess Ciela knelt on her pillow before him, hands clasped, head bowed, mouth silently moving in prayer. Silent tears poured down her face.

Mako almost recoiled, the image of his sister's dying phantom floating in his mind. He forced it out of his head and crawled forward.

Ciela did not move until he was perhaps a yard away; she tilted forward for a moment, and then collapsed onto the huge cushion beneath her.

Strangely, Mako could not move any closer to her. He simply stopped mid-crawl, as if he'd reached a giant pane of glass. And so he sat and waited.

Ciela eventually picked herself up and stood to her full height—which was Riuki's full height as well—but kept her eyes closed. She looked extremely tired.

"I apologize," she said softly, in Riuki's voice.

High Mage Banter stepped from nowhere into Mako's field of vision. He passed by Mako as if he wasn't even there and dropped to one knee before the Pillar. "Princess, I urge you to rest," he said gently. "You have been praying for over a full day now."

Ciela's eyes remained shut, but tears continued to flow from them. "I dare not rest now."

"The System Master has been able to arrange three hours for you. Please use them to sleep, Princess."

Ciela took a deep breath and let it out slowly, shakily. "Alright," she managed. "But I... Banter, help me…" She fell forward again, collapsing into the High Mage's arms.

"Princess?" he asked urgently. Ciela did not answer.

Banter muttered something under his breath. "Three hours will not be enough to recover the energy you've spent," he said aloud to the unconscious Pillar. "It's only going to get worse from here on, isn't it?"

A blue light flashed in Mako's eyes, so bright that he was blinded; before he could say a word, he felt the scene in front of him dissolve.

Just a vision… but why on earth _now_?


	16. Escudo Weapons for Magic Knights

Chapter sixteen… _Escudo Weapons for Magic Knights_

"Wake up—come _on_, Mako—focus on me, that's right…"

Keilin's blurry face swam into view. Mako blinked a few times, and his focus sharpened.

"What happened?" he asked groggily. Keilin grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position, making his injuries throb. "Just stay awake," she insisted urgently.

Cirrus swore. "I thought you were dead, boy."

_Keilin, did you see what I just saw—Banter and the princess?_ Mako tried to ask, but his mouth would not form the words.

Cirrus kicked something out of her way—Li's limp body on the ground—and prepared to fire at him again.

As if someone had flipped a switch in his head, Mako suddenly snapped back to reality. Ignoring the sharp pains in his shoulderblades, he pushed himself to his feet.

"_Lapis Deluge!_" he shouted, at the very moment Keilin cried, "_Jade Monsoon!_"

It happened in a whirl of light and steel: From Mako's hands came two columns of water that spiraled around each other and then twisted around Keilin's magic, a translucent cyclone, forming a combined attack that would surely end this battle—and the next second, a blade sliced through it, and it was no more.

A giant of a man stood in front of them, tall and muscular, broad-shouldered, with silver hair not unlike Cirrus' that fell past his neck. He held a giant sword in both hands, and the weapon rose and fell with each heavy breath he took.

Mako and Keilin faltered. What on earth—?

The man immediately turned, revealing a cape so dark blue it was nearly black hanging to his feet. "That's enough, Cirrus!" he barked, and his voice made Mako think of thunder.

"Stratus!" Cirrus snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Forget that!" the newcomer—Stratus—retorted, and he grabbed Cirrus' right arm with his giant hand. "New orders. Come with me!"

"But the Knights!" Cirrus protested, trying and failing to pull free of the man's grasp. "I was about to—"

"You don't understand," Stratus hissed through gritted teeth. "Come with me. _Now!_" His tone of voice ended the argument instantly. Cirrus glared at him angrily, but she consented, and the two of them vanished in a swish of the huge, heavy cape.

"There's more than one of them," Keilin muttered under her breath after a moment's pause. "Of _course_ there's more than one. Why wouldn't there be?"

The pain had lessened somewhat, and Mako decided he would be able to tolerate it. He dropped to his knees and lifted Li's head in his hands. "She's breathing. Must've been knocked out when that lightning ball exploded." He looked over his shoulder, but Keilin didn't seem worried, or relieved… just exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes.

"I want to go home, Mako," she sighed.

"So do I, but sometimes there's a difference between what I want and what I have to do," he answered. "C'mere and help me get her up."

* * *

When Li awoke, the first thing she realized was that she was hanging between Mako and Keilin in exactly the same fashion they had carried the High Mage to Farway.

This startled her so much that she yelped, jerked, and fell to the ground.

Immediately she noticed that it wasn't dark anymore. Rather, they were back in the forest. _What happened to the Spring?_ she wondered.

"PU!" shrieked Mokona as he pressed his nose up to hers.

Five minutes later, Mako's ears were still ringing from the shrill scream Li had belted out, and Mokona was freshly recovered from disorientation, caused by being thrown into a tree trunk with sufficient force to cause leaves to cascade down.

Li fumed angrily until she remembered that she had a question, but she waited until Keilin stopped glaring at her to ask it: "When did we leave the Spring of Eterna?"

"After you passed out and a strange man took Cirrus away. Something about 'new orders'," Keilin answered vaguely, apparently trying to frustrate the other girl. "We picked you up and somehow ended back up in the forest."

"What?" Li asked, but Keilin cut her off: "Oh, and Mako and I got new magic."

"_What?_" the redhead cried. "That isn't fair! How come only you guys got it?"

Keilin threw her another dark look. "I didn't get my first spells until after you two did. Stop complaining."

"But you got _two_ that time!" Li blurted. "And now you have _three_ and I've only got the one—"

"You know," Mako interrupted, "it's quite possible you _did_ get new magic in the Spring, Li."

The Fire Knight cocked her head. "Really?"

Mako couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her. Perhaps Keilin's cynicism had rubbed off on him. "But there's no way to tell until we get out of the Forest of Silence. We can't use magic here, remember?"

"That's right!" Li cried, and then her shoulders drooped. "I forgot."

Keilin met Mako's eyes and— unbelievably—smiled.

* * *

When the sun began to set, Mokona provided their eggshell-shelter again, and the Knights retired for the night after devouring a fresh meal like a pack of wolves.

Mako fell asleep the moment he hit the bed. His sleep would be peaceful until early morning, when faint and misty images of the Spring would plague his dreams. But for now, his rest was utterly calm.

In the girls' room, Keilin lay facing the window, her eyes open but not really seeing; her sight was turned inward.

Movement on the window drew her attention as she drifted away, but the closing of the eyes on the glass did not register in her mind; she was already more than half asleep.

Li lay awake, her mind's eye seeing little pieces of the day, as if the images on a video recorder had gotten scrambled. While her body demanded sleep, her mind raced, and she couldn't quiet her thoughts. Maybe there was a reason for that, she decided, and an idea pushed its way to the front of her mind… well, it was a little ridiculous, but maybe it would calm her brain down. She sat up and surveyed the room. There, on the nightstand… odd that she would find it so quickly, or even at all…

She selected a sheet of parchment, dipped the beautiful quill pen into an ink pot and then began to write, using a moonbeam's light to see by.

* * *

Most of the next day was spent in uneventful travel. It took them until midday to reach the road that Farway was situated on. From there Mokona indicated that they were to move eastward, so the group caught a ride on a horse-drawn cart bearing produce to Wincrest and made good time towards the larger city (at the cost of some pride, however; the cart driver doubled over laughing at their school uniforms, which he said were "the most ridiculously flashy rags I've ever seen").

By early evening they had arrived at the city gates, and as if on cue, Hawk Vision appeared in the crowd and headed straight for them. He gave them his unmistakable grin as he gave the girls a hand off the cart. "How'd it go? Did you get it?"

Mako glanced at the others, and they nodded in unison.

Hawk's grin grew, if possible, even wider. "C'mon, then," he said, pushing them forward into Wincrest, "let's get those weapons made as soon as possible!"

* * *

The city of Wincrest was, in essence, Farway on a grander scale. The homes were a bit larger and somewhat nicer, but the quaint heart and soul of a village remained.

After staying in the Forest of Silence for a few nights, coming to Wincrest was almost like coming home. Mako felt extremely at ease and comfortable even while walking outside among the buildings.

The Master Smith spoke excitedly as he directed them through the town. "I wanted to meet the three of you in Adred—I know the people there, see, and to be frank I like that place better than here—but everyone's favorite High Mage said absolutely not. Said he doesn't want to take chances there. Oh, and then he mentioned you," he added, inclining his head towards Li.

"Really?" she asked, her face brightening considerably.

Hawk nodded at her. "He said I should leave you there anyway."

Li's mouth opened slightly, and the Smith laughed. "I'm just teasing. Really, don't look so upset. Besides…" He pointed to a house ten yards ahead. "We're almost there."

* * *

The house was empty, but Hawk walked in as if he lived there and ushered them to a staircase hidden behind a fake panel in a wall. It led downwards, into darkness. "Quickly," he said, motioning for them to follow.

The staircase was the longest Mako had ever been on; after the group had descended for at least five solid minutes, the floor levelled out, but it was too dark to see where they were.

As he stretched out his burning legs, he heard Hawk moving around somewhere to his right. "This house is designated for people on castle business," the Smith explained. "It's so they don't have to bother with the inn—ah, here it is."

A flickering light burst to life in a lamp, and the darkness receded.

Li gasped out loud.

The room was enormous, at least a quarter of a mile square and thirty feet high. The walls shimmered like mother-of-pearl. Besides Hawk, Mokona, and the Knights, it was completely empty.

"What is this place?" Keilin asked.

Hawk grinned again. "Hold out your gloves."

When the Knights obliged, there was a flash of white light, and suddenly Hawk was not beside them anymore, but in the middle of the cavernous room, the escudo ore hovering above him. The Smith was no longer in his grease-smeared jumpsuit, but in brilliantly white pants and an equally white shirt, which (Li's face flushed the moment she saw it) hung open. A gold medallion hung about his neck.

"What—" Mako began, but Keilin shushed him.

Hawk raised both arms to the ceiling and began to walk on air as if ascending a staircase; then, on the same level as the three chunks of ore, he threw an arm out to the blue escudo, and it began to glow; he turned and did the same with the other two. His other arm rose and fell, and then he began to sculpt air as if it were clay. The shapeless glowing masses slowly began to take form.

The entire process took perhaps a quarter of an hour. The Knights watched, fascinated, as the Master Smith created three weapons at once without touching any of them.

Another flash of light blinded them for a second, and when their vision cleared, Hawk—grease-smeared and in his stained orange jumpsuit again—was walking back, down the empty air, towards them. Three shafts of light, blue, red, green, trailed after him.

"Finished," he said when he touched the floor. There was sweat on his forehead.

He stopped then, but the lights kept going, fading as they fell into the Knights' hands.

Keilin received a sword, beautifully balanced, lightweight but powerful. Its golden handle was adorned with orbs of deep green emerald.

The shaft of red light condensed into a whip as Li reached up for it. It was long, made of something so dark red it was almost black; as if it were alive, it coiled around her shoulder.

Mako watched as the blue light above him split in two; one part descended into his hands as the other hung itself on his back. He held in his hand a knife about the same size as the one Keilin had found; its blade was steel, its handle an azure material that was cold to the touch. He reached over his shoulder and felt a quiver of sorts, and inside his hand touched more of the handles. Throwing knives. Dirks.

Hawk wiped his forehead. "There you are. Escudo weapons for Magic Knights. They will be stored in your gloves until you need them, and as you go they will evolve— become strengthened, if you will—but only if your hearts grow with it."

Li gave her whip a flick, and it let out a _snap_ that echoed across the massive room. "This is great," she said, smiling at it fondly. "Thank you!"

Hawk laughed and rubbed her short hair, completely disheveling it. "Don't mention it. Least I could do for you three."

"Stop that!" Li said, twisting and worming away from him.

A piece of parchment fell from her cardigan and silently fluttered to the floor, but at that very moment the weapons glowed for a second, then returned to the Knights' gloves. No one noticed the paper.

"Come on," Hawk said, picking up the lantern and motioning towards the staircase. "Everyone upstairs. It'll be nightfall soon. Mokona can start you off again tomorrow, but I need to return to the castle as soon as I can." He sighed. "One of the engines on the ship blew this morning."

"A real emergency," Keilin muttered under her breath as she followed Li onto the stairs. Mako came behind her.

* * *

Hawk Vision paused a moment to return the lantern to its proper place on the wall. Just before dousing the light, he noticed the parchment on the floor.

_What is that?_ he wondered, scooping it up and skimming it. His eyes widened very slightly; he hastily folded it and stuffed it up the sleeve of his jumpsuit, then blew out the light and began up the staircase after the Knights.


	17. Island in the Sky

Chapter seventeen… _Island in the Sky_

_Let me see._

Keilin double-checked the lock on the door, then pulled her sword from her glove. There was a metallic _shing_ as if she'd pulled it from a sheath; it glittered of its own light, making the water in the washbasin throw weird reflections onto the dark walls. She held it up proudly.

Cail, only a reflection in the mirror but at least not a silhouette anymore, examined it with something like awe. _It is a beautiful weapon,_ he said with a small smile. _How does it feel?_

"Perfect," Keilin answered, although she had never held a sword before this one. "It's light, but it feels strong."

_I am sure you'll use it well,_ he said earnestly, and she smiled. She made a few passes with the sword, listening to the blade sing as it sliced the air, and then sent it back into her glove. "I hope so."

_About the Rune Gods,_ Cail began, _there are three you are looking for._ He paused and glanced at Keilin, as if waiting for her to put two and two together.

She got it after a moment. "One for each of us?"

_Exactly,_ Cail answered. _Do you remember the floating island you saw your first day here?_

Keilin nodded, and he continued. _The nearest Rune God is on that island. There is nothing you can do to prepare for this; just go. Everything will play out once you get there._

"How on earth are we supposed to get _on_ the island?" she asked.

Cail smiled at her. _You'll find a way._

Keilin decided not to press him for answers. "If you say so." Then, as an afterthought, "How do you know all this? I thought Ciela was the only one who knew anything about the Rune Gods…"

Li Kimoi chose that moment to pound on the door. "Kei? Who're you talking to? You know what, never mind, I've given up trying to figure you out. Hurry up, though, it's past midnight, and you need sleep, and _I_ need to use the restroom, and… and that _thing_ is out there," she added in a hiss.

"Pu," came Mokona's sullen voice.

Keilin sighed and turned back to the mirror. "I'll find a way to tell the others," she said quietly. "And… thanks."

Cail said nothing, but nodded, veiled himself in shadow, and was gone.

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a bright square directly on Mako's face. It woke him immediately. Groaning, he sat up, momentarily wondering where he was. Then it all came back.

Hawk had shown them around the tiny house; it had a small washroom, a kitchen that was not stocked ("But that's alright, 'cause Mokona's got everything you need," said Hawk), and only one bedroom. However, this room was a giant one, with five beds lined up against the far wall. Mokona had not been happy with the arrangement, but when Mako settled on the one farthest to the left and directed the girls to the right, the guide seemed mollified.

_That's right,_ Mako thought sleepily, _everything happened here… finally getting the weapons…_ He glanced at his glove, lying on top of his armor on the floor. _Hard to believe it's all in there._

Then he saw it: his armor had changed.

He picked it up in wonder, then—without assistance—managed to fasten it in place. It was different, all right, but for the better. It covered both of his shoulders now (he absently touched the place where the fake Riuki had stabbed him), as well as most of his back; two more glittering blue orbs decorated the front.

But since when had it been like this?

He stared down at himself, then headed to the right side of the room, trying to see if the girls' armor had changed as well—but Mokona blocked his path halfway there with a low-toned "Puuu."

"I want to see their armor," Mako said patiently, pointing to his own, as if Mokona didn't understand language.

"Pu," snapped the guide, and Mako tried again: "Look, you little… whatever you are, I'm not trying to _do_ anything, I just want to see if their armor's diff—"

"Pu!" Mokona insisted, and Mako gave up trying to talk his way through.

He grabbed Mokona by the ears, held him at arm's length to avoid being hit or kicked while the guide struggled violently, and moved to the right side of the room anyway.

Mokona was torn between warning the girls and disrupting their sleep long enough for Mako to see what he needed to: the girls' armor was indeed different, and in fact looked much like his own did. Less than half a minute had passed, though, before Mokona let out a "PUUU!" that woke the other two Knights as sharply as a bucket of ice water, gave a final violent jerk, tugged free of Mako's grip, and bounded for Keilin.

* * *

"Whoa! He's right! It _did_ change!" Li ran her hands over the new additions to her own armor, then compared it to the others'. "When did that happen?"

"Must've been last night," Keilin murmured, "because it wasn't like this when I fell asleep."

Li thought this over for a second, then clapped her hands together. "It evolved! Just like our weapons—if Hawk's serious about the escudo changing and getting stronger."

"If that's so, then why didn't it change earlier?" Mako asked. "Like in the Spring, or back in Farway?"

"Um." Li bit her lip, absently rubbing one of the new ruby-red ornaments on her armor as she considered the question. Finally, she asked, "Well, what if it's a reaction to the weapons? It evolved when we were granted the weapons, right? So… so when our weapons change later on, our armor will too."

"Defense _and_ offense raised," Keilin murmured to herself. "What do you think, Mako?"

"I think it sounds logical," he replied, and Li beamed with pride.

* * *

One breakfast later, the Knights found themselves on the outskirts of Wincrest, fed, rested, equipped, and ready to go.

"So," Mako said to Mokona, as their guide paced around and sniffed the dirt, "which way to the Rune Gods?"

Keilin glanced to her right. Far off in the northeast she could see the floating island.

"Pu," decided Mokona, pointing in the completely opposite direction, back through Wincrest and farther west.

"Alright!" said Li, walking that way—and Keilin grabbed her arm. "Wait!"

It was at that moment, with everyone looking at her, that she realized she didn't know exactly what to say.

How would she explain this without mentioning her kindred spirit? Come to think of it, _why_ had she never mentioned Cail anyway?

_That one's easy,_ she thought. _Someone finally sees me, not my mask… just this once, I want to keep this feeling to myself._

That still left her with the problem of explaining her sudden directional revelations.

She decided to simply wing it. "Mokona," she asked, pointing to the island in the sky, "that floating land. What is that? What's up there?"

"Keilin, we should go," Mako said, but she shook her head. "I have a feeling about that place," she lied. "Maybe we should check it out."

"What _is_ up there, anyway?" Li wondered aloud.

Keilin decided to play this to her advantage. "Do you feel it too?" she asked. "It's a strange sensation, deep inside me… it's saying…"

"It's saying we should go up there," Li finished, an unknowing victim of the power of suggestion.

"I don't feel anything," Mako said uneasily, but he turned to Mokona and asked, "Is there a Rune God up there?"

Mokona glanced westward again, sighed, and nodded.

"If that one's so close," Li asked, "why don't you want to get it first?"

"Puu puuuu, pu, puu." Mokona glanced at Mako. "Pu?"

"You don't _feel_ like it?" Mako repeated, and Li stared at him. "How can you understand—" she began.

"That doesn't make sense," Mako interrupted, directing his comment at Mokona, "it'd be quicker to go there first, wouldn't it? And the sooner we can awaken the Rune Gods, the sooner we can help Princess Ciela—"

A deafening rumble, almost like thunder, cut him off. He whirled around.

The ground just outside the Wincrest border was being split open; it caused tremors that nearly threw the Knights off their feet.

"What is this?" Li shrieked, and Keilin pointed. "Look! Something's coming out of the gap!"

With a roar, a monster rose at least seven feet, and then crawled out of the tear in the ground. It stood to its full height as the tremors worsened; Li was thrown sideways and landed in Mako's arms as he reached out to steady her.

Luckily, no one else saw this; as quickly as possible, they let go of each other, both flushing as red as her hair.

The rift in the ground closed, leaving no trace of its appearance save a small bare patch of dirt, and when it was gone, the quakes ceased. The monster, now around nine or ten feet tall, swiveled its small head around, spotted the Knights, and stomped towards them.

It wasn't exactly ugly, but no one could truthfully call it cute either. It simply was a golem, a giant humanoid thing made entirely of dirt, rocks, and whatever else one might find underneath grass.

"Puu!" snapped Mokona, and Mako translated for the others: "He says this is why he didn't want to go that way."

"Well, it's too late now, isn't it?" Keilin shot back at him.

"_Garnet Storm!_" yelled Li, and as the monster was caught in a swirl of flame, she added, "Look! Look! I _did_ get new magic!"

"As happy as we all are for you, I don't think it did anything," Keilin answered sharply, and immediately the monster bent down and backhanded her into the ground.

Li scrambled to help her up as Mako pulled his quiver of dirks from his glove, grabbed one, and threw it. The knife sank into the golem's side, almost past the handle, but the monster didn't even seem to notice it. He threw two more; one hit it squarely in the chest, and another grazed its neck. It kept coming.

"I'm alright—Li, _move_! _Jade Monsoon!_" came Keilin's voice, and the wind drove the knives just a little deeper in.

The monster felt this. It bellowed—maybe pain, maybe just anger—and pounded the ground with its enormous fists. Another tremor, like a wave on the sea, tossed the Knights into the air.

Li hit the ground first and squeaked in pain, but by the time the others had picked themselves up she'd drawn her whip from her glove, a fire in her eyes. "That's it! Let's really give it to him!" And she charged.

"This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've seen her do yet," Keilin remarked as her sword appeared in a flash of green light.

"Besides playing tug-of-war with Cirrus' staff?" Mako asked, somehow unable to keep from grinning at her.

_Crack_ went the whip, trailing a scarlet light behind it, as it sliced into the golem's stomach—or rather, where the stomach would be if it had one. The creature bellowed again, raising its left arm like a club—but the whip looped around it, and Li held it fast. "C'mon!" she yelled over her shoulder. "A little help here?"

Keilin darted in and swung at the creature's right arm, which was halfway to the other girl; the blow bit into the dirt body, and the golem pulled it back, just out of the sword's reach.

Mako took a moment to be sure of his aim, then landed a dirk directly into the creature's throat this time. "Get out of the way!" he called; the golem was thrashing and shrieking with an eerie voice that sounded almost like fifty people screaming underwater; Keilin stabbed the massive dirt leg to buy time and dove backwards as Li ripped the whip free and followed suit.

"_Lapis Deluge!_" yelled Mako, and felt a column of water form at each hand; they spiraled around each other, drilled straight through the golem's chest, and—incredibly— circled around and did it twice more.

The golem exploded. Rocks and chunks of dirt rained to the ground.

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Li stood up, brushed herself off, and shook out her short hair. "This," she said, holding the whip up, "is the coolest thing in the world."

Red, green, blue light flashed, and the weapons returned to the gloves.

Mokona bounded in, seemingly from nowhere, and pointed to the island in the sky. "Puu! Puu!"

The girls glanced at Mako, and he shrugged. "He says let's go."

"One problem," Keilin answered. She gestured to the open air. "We can't fly."

"Puuuu," retorted Mokona sarcastically, and a beam of light shot from the orb on his forehead, illuminating the ground where the golem had first appeared. Something began to take shape…

"You're kidding me," Keilin muttered as it solidified and the light faded. "This is ridiculous."

"Oh, lighten up, Kei," Li said brightly. "I think it's exactly what we needed."

"Um," Mako added uncertainly.

Mokona proudly bounced inside the bright pink hovercraft he had just produced and indicated the Knights should do the same.


	18. Heart of Darkness

Chapter eighteen… _Heart of Darkness_­

The view from high above Cephiro was enough to make even Li shut up and appreciate the scenery.

Wincrest became a small dot of tiny buildings, and eventually the Knights could see the road that connected it to the western cities. A range of mountains appeared beyond what Mako guessed was the town of Adred. The ocean to the south sparkled brilliantly, like a flowing gemstone; lush carpets of forest dappled the northern plains.

Li was sitting completely still, too in awe of the view to say a word.

Mako was looking ahead to the floating island.

Keilin uneasily watched the floor of the aircar, too lost in her own thoughts to enjoy—perhaps even to see—anything at all.

_There is nothing you can do to prepare for this,_ Cail had said. But what did that mean?

_The Rune God enhanced Ciela's heart and made her the Pillar,_ she thought nervously. _What will it do to us? Is this some kind of test to see if our hearts are strong enough?_

She'd been the last to be granted magic. She'd almost been driven insane by that freakish cloud of darkness in Eterna. Even with the new spell, even combined with Mako's, she hadn't been able to drive off Cirrus, hadn't even been able to touch her after Stratus' arrival.

_My heart isn't strong enough…_

She buried her face in her hands. _Cail, I'm so afraid…_

* * *

The aircar set itself gently onto solid ground, and the protective energy bubble vanished. Mako jumped out of the car and helped the girls over the side.

Then, as one, they looked at the enormous temple in front of them, took a deep breath, and walked forward.

* * *

Inside the first chamber, the sunlight streaming in through the door behind them did nothing to illuminate their surroundings. As they moved further through the giant room, the cheeriness of the sunlight seemed to die completely.

The walls were made of stone that was freezing to the touch, as was the floor. Mako suspected the ceiling might be, too, but he couldn't see it. Giant stone pillars formed a sort of aisle straight down the middle of the room; at the far end of the hall, he could just make out a wide staircase and, at its top, huge double doors.

The dank air smelled musty; Li tried to filter it through her cupped hands and failed. "Ugh," she whispered (it just didn't seem right to talk in this great chamber), "what _is_ this place?"

"It is the temple of Windam, Rune God of the Wind," Keilin said flatly in a voice that was not hers.

Mako stared at her. "Are you alright?"

Keilin looked straight ahead as she walked. "This is the Rune God's resting place. Ciela came here over eight hundred years ago to beg his help, and since then he has been locked in slumber, awaiting the return of a Knight of Wind."

Li stopped. "Keilin, what are you talking about? What's the matter with you?"

Mako hesitated as well. "I don't think we should go any farther just now. Keilin, do you need to rest or something?"

"_Time flows unchecked, like the storm's course,_" the blonde replied. "_We must move forward._"

"Stop it, Kei," Li demanded, but her voice was small. "You're scaring me."

Keilin had walked on without them. Now she was at the staircase. She began to climb.

"That's it," Mako said, "we're getting out of this place and going outside. Come on. Keilin, come _on_. Get back here. Keilin!" Then, as she reached the giant stone doors, he sprang forward. "Keilin, don't—!"

She went through, and the doors slammed shut behind her.

* * *

Keilin was dimly aware of voices behind her as the great stone doors closed, but she gave them no heed. Everything seemed misty, far-away, as if she were awake but dreaming. There was only one thing clear now, this sense of pressing forward, this need to continue.

Two torches flared to life on either side of her as she walked between them, straight down the chamber. She paused at some low, wide steps, and turned her eyes upward.

There, in all it granite majesty, stood a colossal statue of a mighty phoenix; its wings were folded and its head down, a picture of sleep.

Awe of this great creature overwhelmed her. She heard herself saying something, but it didn't register, didn't make sense to her ears. She let mind focus on the statue of the Rune God as her body automatically reacted for her.

"Are you Windam, Rune God of the Wind?"

The statue stayed silent.

* * *

"Mako, it's no use, these aren't budging," Li grunted as they pushed even harder on the doors. "They're not going to open—"

"Yes—they—_will_," Mako returned, his shoulder to the stone. "There's something weird going on here, and I'm not leaving her trapped in there while we try to figure out what it is—"

"Puuuu," said Mokona exasperatedly from somewhere halfway down the stairs. Mako turned to face him. "Then what are we _supposed_ to do?"

Li gave the doors one last halfhearted shove. "This isn't working at all," she said worriedly. "We need to try a different approach."

"Like what?" Mako asked.

With a low rumbling, the doors slid open of their own accord.

The two of them stared at the open passageway for a long time before Li broke the silence: "Like not trying so hard."

"Come on," Mako said, and they ran into the next chamber.

* * *

"Windam," Keilin repeated. "Please, I beg you, awake. Speak."

The statue stirred.

"I am Keilin Makawa," the girl continued, as if in a trance, "Magic Knight of Wind. Awake!"

Another voice sounded from behind her, calling her name, but she was not aware of it. Windam held her attention, this great creature becoming less and less like stone and more a living being; his wings, no longer granite but a glossy green, unfurled, and his head lifted. His eyes were like the deepest of emeralds, and they focused on Keilin, pierced her, went straight through her soul.

* * *

Li stopped in her tracks and grabbed onto Mako's arm. "That thing," she gasped, pointing at the mighty beast before them, "that's… that's a…"

"A Rune God," Mako finished.

Footsteps sounded from behind them, and as one they whirled around.

A boy neither of them had ever seen before, clad in dark brown pants and a long-sleeved white shirt that was extremely loose, darted through the door and froze, looking straight past them to Keilin before Windam. He was breathing hard, and urgency clouded his face. "I don't believe it," he said softly at the same time Mako demanded, "Who are you?"

The newcomer pushed his sandy hair out of his dark gray eyes. "Keilin!" he called loudly, still not seeming to notice the other two Knights. "_Keilin!_"

* * *

_I have been waiting for the Magic Knight of Wind,_ Windam said in a voice like a storm.

More misty voices played across her subconscious as Keilin stood transfixed.

"I am she," she whispered.

(_Keilin!_)

"I have come to awaken you and beg your help."

(_Keilin!!_)

_Have you?_ Windam asked, and suddenly the girl's mind seemed to clear. Without thinking, she cast a glance behind her.

Mako. Li. _Cail?!_

_Young girl from another world,_ Windam continued, _it seems to me your loyalties have lain elsewhere for some time…_

"What are you _doing_ here?" Keilin mouthed to Cail.

Windam spoke again. _You are enslaved by the forces of darkness that reign in your heart._

Cail brushed Mako aside as easily as one might brush away a fly and started for her. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear anything except the Rune God: _Even now, fear wells up in you and throttles you._

Keilin stood frozen, her back still to the great phoenix.

_Cephiro is a land of the will. Yours is strong, young girl, fed by fear… it has been changing you very slowly over the years, but in this world it has flourished…_

Cail broke into a run.

…_and it is consuming you._

Keilin felt her body temperature drop; she began shaking, but stayed rooted where she was.

_You have not become the Magic Knight of Wind, but of Darkness._

She stretched out her arms and fell forward as Cail reached her, steadied her.

_Your heart of darkness has rejected me,_ Windam finished, _and therefore, I reject you._

A green light flared from the tip of his beak. Cail pushed her back towards the great stone doors. "Run!" he shouted as emerald lightning flared down at them; Cail threw a hand up, and the Rune God's attack hit a grayish bubble shield.

The two of them ran to the staircase, narrowly avoiding a second attack. Mako and Li were waiting for them in the first chamber.

At the first sight of them, Keilin burst into tears, frightened and confused and still so cold.

"Who are you, and what is going on?" Mako said quietly. He was extremely pale.

"My name is Cail," her kindred spirit answered, "and Keilin is coming with me now." He put an arm around her shoulder, as if to emphasize his point.

Mako drew his quiver from his glove. "She isn't going anywhere!"

Cail shook his head. "Can you stop me, Water Knight?"

"Let go of her!" Mako shot back, and he threw a dirk.

Time seemed to slow as Keilin felt a dam in her heart break, and the chill washed over her anew; something was happening to her, something terrifying—

Before she realized what she was doing, she threw out her hands and screamed, "_Demon Wing!_"

A swarm of bats, made of energy as black as eternity, burst from her hands; the hall echoed with their bloodthirsty chatter as they swallowed the knife in midair and headed for the other Knights.

* * *

Li cried out in terror. Mako put his arms around her and turned, intending to take the brunt of it himself.

Cail spoke a word, and the bats cried out as they hit a bubble shield: _thump-squeak thump-squeak thump-squeak_, again and again, until they vanished altogether.

Li sagged slightly against Mako, crying as hard as Keilin. The Water Knight kept an arm on her shoulders and turned, standing slightly in front of her in case there was another attack.

Horror-struck, Keilin was staring at her own hands, as if she didn't recognize them. Cail urged her forward. "It isn't safe here. Please, you must follow me—"

"Leave her alone!" Li yelled, wiping her eyes and drawing her whip out.

Cail glanced at her, then drew a symbol in the air with his hand; it glowed for a second and then fell to the floor, changing shape, writhing, twisting…

_No,_ Mako thought, _of all things, no, not this…_

A thirty-foot serpent materialized on the floor.

Cail grabbed Keilin and ran with her to the exit.

"Follow them!" Li cried through fresh tears. "I'll hold this off! Go, _go!_"

Mako took off after them, but they had too much of a head start; he stopped at the temple's threshold and watched, his heart pounding, as Cail and Keilin vanished together in a swirl of dark mist.

Li screamed. "_Mako! Behind you!_"


	19. A Moment's Hesitation

Chapter nineteen… _A Moment's Hesitation_

_Keilin drifts in an endless sea of mist, lost and alone._

_Voices float like fog in her brain, all twisted together; at times, she can make out a phrase or two, and sometimes it is simply a jumble of sounds._

Is there no point to anything? _asks one, and then another says,_ I won't leave you. We're in this together now. _More and more join in until she cannot understand a word of it, and then one by one other voices strive to make themselves heard:_ The spell Ciela used seeks out the three people in your world who have the strongest and purest hearts, emotions, wishes and dreams… Don't you be goin' out that door, lass!… Enter the world you created for yourself… I am another just like you.

_It all blurs together again. She feels herself sinking, down, down; sheer exhaustion sets in, and she lets go._

* * *

The snake darted at Mako faster than he could draw a knife—fortunately, it didn't take Li that long to blast the monster with magic.

"_Garnet Storm!_" she shouted, and Mako dove out of the way as the air around the creature erupted into flames. Li followed up with a whip attack that left a deep, long gash near its head.

The monster snarled at her as best as any snake could and swung its head around, ramming her into the wall.

Mako started forward, but faltered. His mind was reeling, and frightening memories resurfaced—the giant snake in the clearing that day…

Li dropped five feet onto the stone floor, barely managing to roll to the side and avoid foot-long fangs that had been aiming for her.

The chimera in Farway…

"_Flame Dagger!_" Li cried, and as the monster reared back, trying to avoid the flames, she desperately tried to make a break for the middle of the chamber. The enormous serpent recovered too early, though, and she leaped backwards as its thick, muscular body herded her back towards the wall. "Mako!" she yelled frantically. "Mako, _do something!_"

And now this… this gargantuan snake, strong enough to crush solid rock to powder, quicker than his reaction time…

But Mako had had plenty of time to react already, and hesitation on his part was entirely to blame: this was the thought that would haunt him for a long time to come as a fang, as deadly as one of the throwing knives, plunged into Li's upper thigh as she made another escape attempt.

The girl let out a wail of pain that quickly turned into a gurgle, and then quiet moans, as the monster drew its head back.

Mako saw blood pour onto the stone floor, where it mingled with a strange pale yellow liquid—_venom_.

* * *

Li's vision went fuzzy immediately. She felt incredibly heavy, and suddenly quite groggy. Shapes became smears of gray on her field of vision. One of the smaller smears was yelling at her.

_Mako… why didn't you do anything…?_

"…ang on… I'm co… Li…" said the smear, its voice fading and coming back, as if someone were messing with the volume on the radio.

_Perfect timing, hotshot,_ she thought bitterly, and she sank into darkness as the poison completed its work.

* * *

Cail sat on a chair by the couch where Keilin lay.

She was breathing. That was good. But it did not bring about sweet dreams; she shifted constantly, gasping and mumbling incoherently in her sleep, and even thrashed out once or twice, causing beads of sweat from her forehead to become airborne.

Her armor, glove, and sword lay on the floor beside Cail's chair. The off-white hue of the breastplate had become gray, the golden handle of the sword now gleamed silver, and no green gemstones glistened on any of them; they had all become some dark material—obsidian, maybe. Even the girl's clothing had been changed to varying shades of black, from the boots to the school uniform to the wide cloth headband in her hair.

Cail held in his hands the very dagger he had given her; not surprisingly, it too had undergone the transformation. He laid it down beside the sword.

The Knight of Wind was no more. If the Rune God Windam was right, this girl truly was on her way to becoming the Magic Knight of Darkness.

Keilin began to cry quietly in her sleep.

* * *

Mako drew a knife, hating himself for a number of reasons.

The dirk struck the wall some three feet to the right of the monster and fell to the floor with a _clang_.

The snake swiveled its head around to look at him, and it began to advance—and then froze, as if it had been turned to stone.

The air had adopted a heavy quality, and stillness reigned supreme. The snake hadn't been petrified. Somehow, crazily, time had stopped.

"Princess," came Banter's voice from behind him.

Mako spun around to see Ciela kneeling there, bent over almost double with her shoulders hunched and her fists pressed against her mouth; she was moaning something, and the High Mage shouted to someone Mako couldn't see. "The System Master! Where is the System Master? Get him in here—"

"Something's happened," Ciela gasped, shaking, "High Mage, it's changing, it's getting stronger, and I…"

"Hold on, Princess," Banter ordered. He called out to empty air again, "What do you mean, the System Master is gone? Where is he?"

Ciela screamed. "I… I can't st-stop it… evil, darkness, it's greater, greater than it has been…"

Banter looked strained at the sight of the Pillar rocking in distress. "Forgive me," he muttered, and he placed one of his large hands over her face; immediately she was asleep, and he lowered her gently to the ground.

"Get the man in here as soon as possible," he said to the unseen third party. "Yes, a ways southwest of here, follow the road west once you reach it. Hurry. _For all our sakes, hurry!_"

The vision faded in a shade of blue light, and time unfroze again.

The monster lunged at Mako.

The Water Knight grazed it with a dirk and threw himself out of the way, barely giving himself enough time to recover before the creature came his way again. His next knife hit the creature on its side, but his aim was still off; the blade did little to slow the snake down.

Windam. The attack. So sudden, so unexpected, so _powerful_.

He threw a dirk. It missed by several feet. _Concentrate!_

Cail. Who was he? How did he know Keilin? How did _she_ know _him?_

Mako leaped to his left as the monster soared by him; its scales rubbed hard against him, scraping the armor, tearing his shirt, cutting into his skin.

Keilin… what had happened to her magic? Where was she now?

He fell backwards onto the cold stone floor. The snake circled around to come at him again, fangs bared; he lifted his hands and called on his magic—but nothing happened.

And Li. The way she'd cried for Keilin, not for the loss of a Knight but for the loss of a friend. Dead now, or dying, he couldn't tell which. His fault, his fault for hesitating, unwilling to risk facing a fear—

Two sharp points dug deep into flesh, and Mako was soaked in blood.

* * *

_"Here," the redhead says, "this is for you." She reaches into her cardigan. "It's… oh?" She checks one sleeve, then the other. "Just a moment. I know I have it…" Frustrated now, she runs her hands down her arms, listening for the telltale crinkle of the parchment._

_No use. It's gone._

_She looks up and sees she is alone._

_"Wait! Come back! I just had it a second ago!"_

_This statement falls on no one's ears but her own._

* * *

Mako yanked both dirks out of the roof of the creature's mouth at the same time, and before its head could pull back he rammed the knife in his left hand into the soft skin again.

"_That_ was for whatever your master did to Keilin," he snapped as fresh blood showered down and the snake let out a wet, angry hiss, "and _this_—" He stabbed the right-hand dirk upwards into its mouth as well. "—is for trying to hurt Li in the first place!" Leaving those two where they were, he drew fresh knives from his quiver and continued to jam the blades in. "I—am nobody special—just an average kid—but when something happens to people I care about—and I can get my hands on whoever's responsible…" He stopped and wiped the blood out of his eyes, then continued, speaking the words as they came to him. "…along those lines—I'd have to hurt myself too—but that won't help—it's just my job now to get her to people who can—"

He drove his next one in as far as it would go, and the snake pulled back, spurting blood; it must have realized Mako had hit something vital, but it looked determined to take him down with it. It flew at him just as the Knight realized his quiver was empty.

He couldn't defend himself. He couldn't dodge. So that meant…

"_Lapis Deluge! LAPIS DELUGE!!_"

He poured his heart and soul into those words, and the twin columns sprang from his hands, reluctantly at first, but almost immediately picking up spirit and strength. They flew as one down the snake's throat and ripped their way down its body, tearing it from the inside out. Four seconds later, the carcass of the monster dropped onto the ground, water gushing from its wounds instead of blood.

Pinpricks of light around the room glowed blue and floated over to him—his throwing knives. As they dropped one by one into the quiver, each blade lengthened slightly, and their edges sharpened themselves with a metallic ringing sound.

_They're evolving,_ he thought dazedly.

As if on cue, his armor flashed once, and suddenly it was bigger, stronger. He could feel it covering the place on his side where the monster's skin had scraped his own raw. The nerves there still tingled with pain.

None of this mattered now, none of it. He picked himself up and staggered over to Li, taking care not to touch the venom on the floor as he propped her up against the wall.

He checked her pulse, then her breathing. Both were light and uneven, but at least present. Next he examined the puncture wound, but one look told him all he really needed to know. It was deep, still bleeding, badly swollen, perhaps in the beginning stages of infection.

He couldn't treat this, and he had a serious doubt that he could find a doctor in time. He struggled to remember exactly what the vision High Mage had said…

_What do you mean, the System Master is gone?… Get the man in here as soon as possible… a ways southwest of here, follow the road west once you reach it…_

"Mokona," Mako said quietly to the guide, who was reappearing from one of the far corners of the room, "where is the castle?"

"Puu."

"_That_ far north of Farway? We can't possibly get there in time… so that means…" He groaned. "Our closest link to the High Mage is in the last place Banter wanted us to go."

He stood and, with some effort, hoisted Li up, turned, and halfways draped her over his shoulders. If she had been awake, she might have been riding piggyback. In almost the same fashion he had helped carry the High Mage, Mako dragged Li from the Temple of Windam to the pink aircar.

"Mokona," he grunted as he managed to lift the girl's limp body over the side of the car, "how fast can this thing get us to Adred?"

* * *

Keilin was halfways awake by the time she realized that the crying voice was her own, and that the chill was indeed real.

As she fully came to, she desperately tried to sit up, but a warm hand pressed against her damp forehead and gently forced her back down.

"It's alright," came Cail's voice, and the hand moved to grasp her own. "Be still. You're safe now."

"It really happened, didn't it?" Keilin whispered shakily, dreading the answer. "I really am…"

"…the Knight of Darkness. Yes. It really happened."

"I attacked the others! My magic changed, and I used it on them!"

"Shhh, calm down. You did not hurt them."

"Something just… came over me, when I saw them… Cail, I didn't want this!"

Cail's tone was soft. "Then what _did_ you want, Keilin?"

She understood what he was really asking, the same question he had asked her in the forest… it seemed so long ago now, like a different lifetime…

Cail had promised to prove he could be trusted.

This may or may not have been what he'd had in mind; either way, however, she trusted him now.

And so she told him, and as she did so, emotions rose in her heart and surged through her; sorrow was unlocked, regret flowed free, bitterness was unchained, finally, _finally_. As Cail patiently listened, Keilin gave herself willingly and fully to the darkness on the throne of her heart.


	20. Kindred Spirits

Chapter twenty… _Kindred Spirits_

Mako stared out at the landscape under the aircar. Through the energy bubble, everything had a blue tint, but it was barely noticeable. "How's she doing, Mokona?"

"Puu…" said Mokona, "pu, puu."

Mako shut his eyes and rested his forehead against the bubble, which felt like warm glass. "And you're sure you can't do anything about that?"

"Pu," snapped the guide, indicating the bandage he had already provided, which had for the most part stopped the bleeding.

Mako sighed. "I'm sorry. You've been a big help already, I know… but if the swelling doesn't go down, I don't know what we can do."

Mokona hopped onto his knees and grabbed his hand in both of his paws. "Pu," he said quietly, and Mako finally opened his eyes. "It'll be okay?" he repeated, staring blankly at the carpet of forest beneath the aircar. "Mokona, I don't see how this can all be okay… Keilin's gone, and who knows what's wrong with her; Li's got a huge amount of poison in her system; Ciela can't keep her prayers up, and we _still_ don't know if she and Riuki are connected somehow, or if this is all just a freak coincidence… and I'm going crazy, I'm afraid I'll lose my powers again, just like in the temple…"

He gently pulled out of Mokona's grasp and ran both hands through his hair, then grabbed it and held it, resting his elbows on his knees (the guide was forced to hop to the floor). "Mokona, it isn't going to be okay. Not until all this gets sorted out."

The aircar jolted, and Mako was nearly thrown off his seat. His head snapped up.

"What the—?"

A combination roar and screech cut him off, and a bolt of lightning hit the energy bubble. With a sound like glass shattering, the shield vanished, and the aircar's passengers were free to be pummeled by high-speed winds.

"We meet again, boy!"

Mako wiped his watering eyes and scanned the area east of the car. At first he saw nothing but the island in the sky, a good distance away now—and then his eyes fell on none other than Cirrus, riding sidesaddle on some monstrous winged lizard. She held a pair of reins in her right hand, and with her left she formed a small ball of energy. "So one of you is missing, one's dying, and one can't fight! I had a hard time finding you up here, but this should be worth the effort."

"Whatever happened to your new orders?" Mako snapped.

Cirrus smiled. "I'm carrying them out. There was something we needed; we worked hard to get it, and now my boss gave me the go-ahead to finish you off."

"Dare I ask what it was you needed?" Mako retorted, and the woman answered, "You'll see it soon enough."

_Fantastic,_ Mako thought, _just what we need, Cirrus and crew with a secret weapon._ He drew his quiver, which felt slightly heavier than the last time he'd pulled it out; then he grabbed a dirk and threw it, automatically adjusting his aim as he felt its new weight.

The ball in Cirrus' hand stretched and flattened itself out, forming a translucent purple shield. Mako's knife bounced off of it and fell into the trees far below them.

"You'd better hope no one is below you, boy," Cirrus said, almost beside herself with gleeful anticipation. Her shield returned to its spherical shape and then shot itself at him as a beam.

"_Leviathan Blade!_" Focusing with all he had, Mako managed to produce the dragon, which swallowed the blast but did nothing to either Cirrus or her mount.

The woman was less than thrilled. "_Lightning ball, come forth!_" she yelled, pointing at the car, and immediately a globe of electricity rammed it and scorched everyone inside. Mako grabbed Li and pulled her to the floor; then, wincing, he stood and reached for another dirk.

That was when he realized Cirrus was gone.

He stood still for a moment, trying to ignore the pain on his skin and find the sorceress at the same time. He accomplished neither.

The aircar was jolted again and thrown to the left; Mako lost his balance and hit his head on the side of the aircar as he fell to the floor. From behind him came Cirrus' laughing voice: "Can your toys save you from gravity, Magic Knight?"

He looked up in time to see her steed collide with the car again, and the world flipped upside down.

Mokona shrieked as he clung to a seat for dear life; Mako grabbed the side of the aircar as he fell, then let go as he saw Li drop right past him into open air.

* * *

Short but wide, looking more like a castle or a fortress than anything else, the old tower stood somewhere north of the Forest of Silence.

It wasn't merely _old,_ it was _ancient._ The stones were crumbling in places, and the entire structure was covered in wild ivy so thick and tangled that it guaranteed no one would be able to find a way in. Even if they could, the tower was so unstable it would probably collapse upon entry and kill them.

Appearances can be very, very deceiving.

Cail had only to approach the ivy, and it parted for him, revealing a pair of rotting wooden doors. These also opened by themselves, and he went inside. The moment the doors swung shut, the interior of the tower was transformed: torches sprang to life on the walls, which were well-built and steady; a beautiful, patterned rug sprawled on the marble floor, and another just like it adorned the spiral staircase. The true nature of this structure had responded to his very presence.

He had planned it this way. It was a perfect safe house, a stronghold.

In all her dark glory, Keilin came down the steps to meet him.

* * *

Mako fell after Li, all too aware of the ground rising to meet him.

Cirrus floated by him on her winged mount. "I'd stay and watch you die," she crooned, "but I need to report your demise. And by the way, boy—it's going to hurt." She yanked the reins; her lizard turned abruptly, and in a second she was gone.

Time was running short. Mako stretched out his left arm as far as he could and managed to wrap it around Li's waist. He had her. But they were still falling, and it wouldn't matter at all if he was holding on to her if they both hit the ground.

_Can your toys save you from gravity?_

No. They couldn't. But Mokona's could.

"_PUUU!_" came a faint cry from above; Mako turned himself around as best he could to face the aircar, which was getting steadily smaller. There was a dot of ruby-red light…

He felt something in his right hand, and instinctively he grabbed it.

The next thing he felt was a burst of pain in his shoulder, and Li became almost too heavy to hold; he managed to shift her enough to where he could just hang on, and she dangled like a rag doll over the land some thirty yards below.

They had stopped.

Mako looked up. He was holding the end of a very long, silvery-white rope that was dangling from the edge of the aircar.

"Land this thing!" he yelled. "I can't hold her any longer!"

Mokona waved at him, then disappeared; a second later, the car began a much slower descent to the ground below.

* * *

Keilin had been granted privacy to clean herself up; now, even though her long hair was still wet, she was back in full armor and walking with a strange confidence Cail had not seen in her before.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for you," she said, coming to stand by him at the front doors.

Cail smiled. "There's someone you need to meet."

* * *

They walked outside together; Keilin expected someone on the grounds, but the tower's courtyard was empty.

"I don't see—" she began, but Cail interrupted: "Above you!"

A shadow passed over them, and a huge creature landed to their left; its wings created a breeze that ruffled their clothing. Its rider dismounted and strode briskly over to them.

Keilin stared as Cirrus knelt before Cail. "My task is complete, my lord."

"What?" the girl blurted, and Cail nodded at her slowly. "I believe you have already met her… she serves as my primary magic-user."

"But this means…" Keilin breathed, unable to finish her sentence.

Cirrus smiled up at her, still down on one knee. "Look at you," she said approvingly. "It is about time you joined us. It will be a pleasure to work with you."

Keilin turned back to Cail. "Then it's _you!_" she cried. "You're the one! Ciela summoned the Magic Knights here because of you!"

Cail studied her for a moment. "Yes. She did." To Cirrus, he added, "We can speak later. You are dismissed."

The woman bowed her head deeply, then stood and turned to leave. Cail waited until she had entered the tower and her winged mount had lumbered into the forest before he spoke to Keilin again.

"I have told you time and time again that we are alike," he said quietly. "That we are kindred spirits."

"Then why didn't you tell me _this_?" she asked, and he smiled slightly. "I wanted to wait until you had become the Knight of Darkness. There was too much at risk."

"You knew this would happen to me?" Keilin said, although there was no trace of regret or bitterness in her voice, just wonder.

Cail looked her full in the face. "The moment I sensed the presence of the Magic Knights in Cephiro, I could feel the seed of sorrow that was sprouting in your heart. When I contacted you, I knew immediately that this was your destiny; the sorrow overtaking you was irreversible." He put his hands on her shoulders, as if to emphasize the importance of all this. "And because I knew that someday soon you would surrender to it and forsake your original calling, you became my kindred spirit."

"My trial in Eterna," Keilin said. "I declared that I wanted nothing to do with the darkness in my heart."

"And that is how you passed the trial," Cail replied. "But it was too late. You lived in a world of darkness, and in Cephiro it thrived to the point where it became its own being. When you rejected it, the darkness tried to force itself on you."

"But then you came."

"I wanted to save your sanity. After receiving the ore, you willingly invited the fear and sorrow back into your own heart. As you said, familiarity is a comfort. Fear of the unknown paved the way for the regrets of the past to come back to you, and this time you let yourself drown in them."

"Why did you send me to see Windam if you knew this?" Keilin asked.

"I _didn't_ know that you would be able to awaken him," Cail answered. "When I realized that he was responding to you, I knew I had to get you out of there."

Keilin took a moment to search his face. "I still don't understand," she said quietly. "What do you _want_? Who _are_ you?"

Cail pulled her closer to himself, muttered something only she could hear.

Keilin jerked herself free, stumbled back a few steps and stared at him. "You're not," she gasped.

"I am," Cail answered. "Now you know why you are the key to all of this."

"That's impossible," she retorted.

"Believe me, Keilin," he answered, "it is the truth."

At that moment, Cirrus burst through the ivy-laden front doors of the tower. "My lord!"

Cail broke eye contact with Keilin to glance at his mage. "Yes?"

"The Bowl has just shown me that the Knights are still alive, but they have landed in the Forest of Silence," Cirrus answered bitterly.

"This is of little concern," Cail answered after a moment's consideration. "In fact, it may play to our advantage. I am interested in speaking with the Water Knight face-to-face again. But for now, we shall leave them be. They cannot do much right now as it is. The Water Knight's next move will be to try and find help for the other." A thoughtful smile appeared on his face. "I wonder if he'll find it."

"With all due respect," Cirrus began, "wouldn't it just be easier to send Stratus in to finish them off now?"

"The swordsman will have his chance," Cail replied smoothly. "Like I said, I do wish to speak to Mako Keines before this is all over. I suppose I should be glad they survived."

Keilin, still dazed from the avalanche of unbelievable news she had just received, felt as if she were about to go crazy. This just couldn't be. Could it?

She glanced down at herself. This new armor, new weapons, new magic, so strong, so astonishingly powerful… If none of this was true, then where had these powerful supplies come from?

She glanced up to see both Cail and Cirrus watching her quizzically.

Cail… she felt as if she'd known him all her life. He took care of her. And she could trust him.

So she would believe him now.

* * *

"How bad's the damage?" Mako grunted as he hoisted Li over the side of the aircar and laid her down on one of the seats. Mokona jumped out to inspect the exterior.

"Puu," he said after a moment, and Mako groaned. "Can we even lift off again?"

"Puu… pu?"

"Fantastic. And you can't fix that yourself?"

"Puu _pu_."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Mako muttered. He swung himself out of the aircar and landed next to Mokona, who was pointing at the still-smoking crater in the side of the car where Cirrus' magic had hit it. "I don't know what to do with it either, Mokona. And without this thing, we can't even get to Adred, and if we can't do that, then Li… well, she needs help as soon as she can get it."

He looked over the side of the aircar to catch a quick look at the girl's face, which did nothing to reassure him. She looked as if she were dead already.

_Your fault,_ sang a voice in his brain, _your fault, your fault, your—_

"Shut _up,_" he snapped aloud. "SHUT UP!" He kicked the side of the car as hard as he could, as if that would make the taunting stop.

The car shuddered and hummed a little. Mokona stared at it, then eagerly waved his arms in circles, shrieking.

Mako, resigning himself to simply ignoring the voice, glanced at Mokona. "If you say so." And he kicked it twice more, harder each time.

The car burst to life.

Mokona gave an excited squeal, and he bounced into the seat next to where Li had been laid.

Mako climbed in after him. "Do you think this thing can make it all the way to Adred?"

"Pu-pu-puu!"

"What do you mean, you _hope_ so?"

But the aircar gave another shudder and cut him off, and soon they were rising into the sky again.

Mako took a nervous breath as he looked out at the land below him. Without realizing he was doing so, he reached out and took one of Li's lifeless hands in his own.

_If we can just make it in time…_


	21. System Master

Chapter twenty-one… _System Master_

Keilin gingerly touched the surface of the water with the pad of her fingertip. Immediately it rippled, gently at first, but then more intensely, and soon it was churning angrily; she pulled her finger out and allowed one drop to fall back into the Bowl, and suddenly all was still.

The surface of the water was like a mirror now, but it did not reflect her own face to her. Instead, she saw a tiny pink dot against a blue backdrop.

"Is that the Magic Knights in their little hovercraft?" she asked interestedly.

Cail nodded. "I call this the Bowl of Disclosure. It's a small invention of mine. It lets me see almost anything I need to in Cephiro."

"Enlarge the picture," Keilin commanded, and the image in the water obliged, giving her a clear view of the unconscious Fire Knight sprawled across the seats of the aircar.

"So this is how you spoke to me through reflections?" Keilin asked over her shoulder, and Cail answered, "Yes. The Bowl allows its user to communicate with anyone through a window, a mirror… even the reflection of a puddle of water."

"How does it work?" the girl asked, turning back to the image of the car. She could clearly see the Water Knight staring blankly out westward.

"It is a highly advanced form of magic," Cail said simply. "Not even the High Mage could produce something like this."

Keilin snorted disdainfully. "That isn't saying much."

Cail laughed out loud. "Well, against the likes of you and me, I suppose you're right." His tone grew a little more serious. "We know the Knights are going west, more than likely trying to find some sort of cure for the Fire Knight. So the question remains: where are they going?"

"I will let you know as soon as they say anything of interest," Keilin promised.

"Good," said Cail with a nod. He paused, then added, "Cirrus, Stratus and I will be working on a small project in and around the forest. If you need me—" He tapped the side of the Bowl of Disclosure gently—"you know how to find me."

Keilin looked over her shoulder at him, then smiled. "I just call you."

* * *

_With a roar, a monster rises at least seven feet, and then crawls out of the tear in the ground. It stands to its full height as the tremors worsen; Li is thrown sideways and lands in Mako's arms as he reaches out to steady her._

_She tries to pull away, embarrassed, but this time he doesn't let go._

_"Hey—what are you doing?—There's a thing right over there, it's big and it's coming right for us—" But she is cut off mid-sentence._

_"I have a question for you," Mako says seriously. As best as she can, Li twists and stares at him. "Now? Are you nuts? There's a monster and it's coming to get us! Are you blind? Will you at least let me go?"_

_Mako asks his question, but she doesn't catch it._

* * *

The aircar trip lasted another half hour, which was enough time for Mokona to grow restless, Mako to grow somber and somewhat withdrawn, and Li's skin to grow ashen and clammy. The car made a bumpy landing, and the protective energy bubble vanished; Mako came back to reality and caught his first glimpse of the city of Adred.

It was not exactly reassuring.

The buildings were very close together, even on the outskirts; they looked dingy and unstable and as hostile as a structure _could_ look. Even from where he sat in the aircar, he could see people milling about, shady characters who somehow managed to seem even more begrimed than the buildings around them.

Mako quickly weighed his options. He could send Mokona to scout for them, but then again their "reliable guide" had not, so far, proven to be especially reliable. He could go himself, but dare he leave Li alone—or, indeed, even in the hands of Mokona?

In the end there was really no other choice. Mako jumped out of the aircar, managed to hoist the girl's limp body out, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and half-carried, half-dragged her into Adred.

* * *

Stratus swung his large, heavy broadsword with skilled precision.

The swordsman's blade hit its target, and the wounded monster bellowed as it sank to the earth.

Cail waved a hand at the creature. It vanished without another sound.

Then he gave his attention to the monster behind him; it snarled and sprayed saliva everywhere, but somehow Cail stayed dry. He passed his hand in front of the beast, and it too simply was gone.

He felt power and strength and magic coursing through him, as though mingling with his blood in his veins. And he enjoyed every second of it, until—

"Cail!" The voice was female.

"Hold out your sword to me," Cail said to Stratus, and the man did so.

Keilin was there in a reflection on the blade. "There you are. I think you should see this." She smiled. "They've landed."

"I'll be there," Cail promised. To Stratus he added, "Carry on without me. Find Cirrus and make sure she hasn't gotten herself killed before too long."

"Yes, my lord," said Stratus, one strong fist coming up to his muscled chest. Cail acknowledged the salute with a nod; then, like the monsters had, he simply vanished.

* * *

Mako sensed the stares of every person in the city turned on him. He forced himself to keep his eyes straight ahead and to keep moving, keep moving, even when a gutteral voice called out to him, even when five or six people approached him from either side—but when one went so far as to grab out at Li's leg, _then_ he stopped. Holding the girl as best as he could with one hand, he summoned from his glove a solitary dirk and pointed it at the small crowd behind him.

Most shied away, but the haggard man who had reached for Li simply glanced from the knife to Mako, as if the blade meant nothing to him.

The Knight threw it as hard as he could; it sank up to its handle in the dirt just before the man's feet, and the man jumped back.

Mako did this twice more, each time coming a little closer to actually hitting the perpetrator but never touching him. After the third knife had nearly sliced into his boot, the man bared cracked, yellowed teeth in a snarl and stalked away.

The dirks glowed blue and then returned to their owner's glove, and without a word Mako repositioned his cargo and continued towards the heart of the city.

* * *

"Adred," Cail mused. "That's interesting. Why are they there?"

"The High Mage specifically told them not to go," Keilin said, as if she had not been a part of that conversation.

"The Water Knight must think that he can find help for the girl there, then." Cail studied the picture in the Bowl, lapsing into silence.

"Wait," Keilin said after a few seconds, and she pointed at something in the background. "What is that? Is that… yes, it is…" Her eyes widened and then narrowed slightly as she smiled. "I know who they're going to meet," she said quietly. She shared her theory with Cail, and he ripped his gaze from the Bowl to meet hers.

"You may be right," he said, "and if you are, then this falls well for us." He rose from his seat. "Tomorrow morning, we're taking a small trip southwest."

"We?" Keilin asked, cocking her head slightly.

Cail nodded. "I believe you and I count as 'we'."

* * *

"Mokona," Mako hissed through his teeth, "for the last time, I _do not care_ about some stupid machinery lying on the ground! Now stop poking around and go look around up ahead!"

"Puu-uu," Mokona snapped at him in exasperation, and Mako glared at him. "What did I just tell you?"

"Puu puu-pu!"

"No, it is _not_ important, and—"

"PUU!"

"Fine! What is so important about a heap of gears on the road in a place like this?" Mako demanded angrily.

Mokona bristled; he blew a raspberry and stood glowering up at Mako, obviously waiting for an apology and a politer approach.

The Knight felt obliged to give him neither. Leaning down as best as he could while still holding Li off the ground, Mako snarled, "Look, you little wad of… whatever it is you're made of, I am not playing games with you! I don't care if I've offended you or not, because that isn't important right now. _This_—" And he leaned to one side; Li's head lolled over his shoulder, her short red hair rubbing against his face— "is what's important right now! So if not for me, then tell me for her—_why should I care about a piece of junk on the ground?_"

Mokona sighed heavily, then rattled off a reply.

Mako stared at him. "You're kidding."

Mokona shook his head.

"We've got to go," Mako said, more to himself than to the guide. "We've got to go _now_." He straightened up and adjusted Li. "Where, Mokona? Where is he?"

But Mokona never got the chance to answer.

* * *

"All set, sir!" a mechanic yelled over the noise of the ship, backing away and giving the _okay_ sign with his left hand. "You're clear to take off whenever!"

Hawk Vision fastened a thick pair of goggles in place, flicked a switch or two on the control board, and grasped the directional bars. "Thanks, everyone!" he answered, having to shout to be heard over the engine. "I owe you!"

"As always," another shouted back. "Now get going before the High Mage explodes!"

Hawk laughed once, and the mechanic pulled a giant lever on the wall. The room began to shake.

"Oh yeah!" Tense with anticipation of the ride, Hawk gently pulled back on the bars. As his tiny one-man ship lifted off the ground, the ceiling above them pulled apart, washing the underground body shop in watery sunlight.

This little speeder was—after the NSX, of course—the love of Hawk's life. He and his connections in Adred had built the underground landing site exclusively for it, and for such a tiny craft it had proved itself worthy of such luxuries. Hawk had never liked travel by magic; this beauty had solved that Cephirian-based problem immediately. Eagerly awaiting the jolt of the speed jump, he almost didn't recognize the flash of ruby-red light until it had occurred twice more.

* * *

At the sight of the building directly in front of him sliding away like a living thing, Mako had jumped backwards and nearly tripped over Li; he was still trying to regain his balance when he saw Mokona frantically signaling the transport that had risen from below the ground.

The pilot of the tiny ship finally saw them and lifted a pair of grimy-looking goggles from his face.

Mako stared. "_Hawk?_"

The speeder remained hovering in midair as Hawk Vision undid his harness and leaped easily onto the ground before them. "What are you doing here?" he grunted, straightening himself. "Make it short. I have to get to the castle as soon as I possibly can."

Mako wondered briefly how to make the story short. Mokona prompted him after a second, and he said to Hawk, "We were attacked by this giant cobra in the Temple of Windam, and it got Li. She's been getting worse by the minute. I have no idea what to do. We thought that the System Master might be able to help us…"

Hawk cupped Li's face in his hands. He suddenly looked very tired.

"I can't do anything about this, Mako," he said.

The Water Knight felt a chill crash over him.

"You—you can't?" he asked, horrified. "Hawk, please—could you take her to the castle? To the High Mage? He has to know how to—"

"That little ship is the only transport I have," Hawk broke in, "and it can't carry any more than the pilot." He paused, then added, "I'm sorry."

Mako stared at him. "You're _sorry_? That's it? I don't want her to die!"

"I'll send Banter to you as soon as I can," Hawk promised. "But that's all I can do." He turned, then looked back over his shoulder. "I really am sorry, Mako. You know I'd stay and at least try to do something, but if I don't reach the princess soon, she may be seriously hurt from the strain… she may even…" He trailed off.

"She might die," Mako finished.

Hawk glanced away.

"Good luck," he said finally, and he took a running leap back onto his speeder. Within a few seconds, he was gone.

Mako watched him go, frozen with shock.

"Crap," he muttered to Mokona.


	22. Penance and Resolve

Chapter twenty-two… _Penance and Resolve_

Keilin laughed quietly to herself once or twice as she watched Mako Keines' conversation with Hawk.

"Someone has a crush," she sighed. "Look at him! He's about to kill himself with worry." She stood and stretched a kink in her shoulder, then went to the northeast-facing window and gazed out. "This makes our job easier."

Cail glanced at the image of the Knight of Water, and then finally touched his finger to the surface of the water, lifted it, and let a drop fall. The image shuddered with the ripples and faded.

"They've set up camp about a quarter-mile from the city limits," he said. "Smart of them. Adred inns are famous for being packed with thieves and looters. That shelter stands out wherever it is, but they're close to the forest, so there shouldn't be any civilians around. This is the best opportunity for us to visit. Keilin, are you ready?"

The blonde shifted her gaze to him and nodded. Any vestige of mirth was gone from her face.

"Whenever you are."

* * *

"Mokona, I'm not hungry." Mako shoved the guide away for the seventh time. "Just get out of here, alright?" It came out harshly.

Mokona glared at him, then threw the loaf of bread he had been trying to push into the Knight's hands onto the ground and stalked away, muttering darkly under his breath as he went.

Mako turned his attention back out the window. _Come on, Banter. Where are you? She needs you._

* * *

High Mage Banter paced around the huge circular chamber normally occupied solely by Princess Ciela. His blood-red robes swished quietly with each stride, and the jet-black locks of hair in his face bobbed as if in time to music.

This room was where the Pillar spent most of her day locked in prayer. The ceiling, some thirty feet high, boasted a panel of glass directly in the center which allowed sunlight or starlight to stream in, depending on the time. The floors and walls were made of the purest white marble, as was the part of the ceiling that was not glass. Eight enormous marble columns went around the perimeter of the room, and in the very center of these was a giant purple cushion. Upon this cushion lay the Pillar of Cephiro herself, deep in a magic-induced sleep, free from the strain of constant prayer but not from the strain that nightmares bring. Her brows furrowed, and more than once already she had gasped and screamed in her sleep.

High Mage Banter continued to pace, as if his constant motion could stem the flow of torment that was ripping his princess' sanity from her.

He had been circling the room for nearly twenty minutes by the time the huge oak doors at the far end of the chamber were opened and Hawk Vision entered.

"I got here as soon as I could," the System Master grunted, wiping the last of the grease from his forehead onto the sleeve of his palace robes, which, judging from their extremely wrinkled state, he had apparently worn under his usual jumpsuit. "Banter, calm down, alright? You're making me nervous, too."

"I'm not nervous," Banter muttered, but he at least slowed his pace considerably. "Hawk, this is unlike anything I have ever seen before. She cannot keep herself together. She cannot sleep, but she is never truly awake, either. She is plagued by the pains and fears of all Cephiro. I had to place her under the most powerful sleep spell I know, and even this is not enough to give her rest."

Hawk rubbed his right temple with two fingers. "If she isn't praying, monsters will be spawned. You know that."

"Of course I do," Banter shot back, "but she will die otherwise. The strain is too much for even her. I have sent parties of our defense troops out to find and destroy as many of the creatures as they can."

"Good," Hawk said, kneeling down by the downy purple cushion. He pulled a tiny mechanical device from the sleeve of his robe, blotted Ciela's sweat-soaked forehead with a clean section of the other sleeve, and placed the tool between her eyes. She jerked, moaned, and then fell still.

High Mage Banter sighed. "How long?"

"Just for a few minutes," Hawk promised. "After I get the readings, I can start with the bigger calculations." He stopped for a second, then added, "I saw the Knights just before I came here."

"In Adred?" Banter snapped. "What were they doing there?"

"Looking for help," replied Hawk Vision. "I didn't catch all the details, but something is very wrong. The tall girl is missing, and the other's been badly hurt. Mako seems to blame himself for both of them. Li needs help as soon as possible. I can't do a thing. I'm no good with this type of magic—I'm just here to help upgrade the Pillar System. _You_ need to help them, Banter, you're the only one who can."

Banter stayed quiet for a moment, then asked, "How badly is she hurt?"

"Dying," Hawk replied. "Some sort of snake monster got her in the leg shortly after Keilin disappeared."

Again the High Mage took his time to answer.

"It is none of my concern," he muttered finally. "My place is here with the Pillar."

Hawk jerked; his head whipped around, and he stared hard at the High Mage. Finally, he managed, "None of your concern?! My word, Banter, this should be your _main_ concern at the moment!"

"Ciela is my main concern," Banter shot back. "The last thing I want to happen is the Pillar to die. I love Cephiro too much to risk it being overrun by darkness."

Hawk scowled. "You idiot, that's why I'm here. It's _my_ job to try and help the princess. She gave _you_ responsibility over the Knights!"

"The Knights should be able to take care of themselves," Banter retorted.

"One would think that you of all people'd be wanting to help those kids any chance you can get!" Hawk snapped. "Or have you forgotten that the Magic Knights are on our side? Ciela summoned them to save our world, and she put herself at a huge risk to do so—remember the stories; that same spell killed Princess Serin! Helping the Knights is your duty to Ciela, _High Mage_."

The tiny device on the Pillar's face made a series of clicks, then lifted itself into the air, as if trying to break up the disagreement in its own mechanical way. Banter and Hawk both watched it tensely for a moment; the little device hovered steadily until the System Master gently retrieved it.

Banter angrily turned his face away. "I do not want to have to leave her alone."

His attention focused on the little device in his hand, Hawk asked in a calmer tone, "It isn't just her, is it?"

Something softened in the High Mage's face. "No," he said quietly, finally. "It isn't just her." He turned back to Ciela's limp form on the cushion and studied her for a moment before continuing, "The Pillar is giving herself for a land she has not truly seen for eight hundred and thirty-two years, killing herself for it even though she was not born here. In some ways, this girl _is_ Cephiro to me. My land, my people, my home, they all ride upon those shoulders. I don't… I don't want…" He trailed off.

"Don't want what?" Hawk prompted. "You don't want to lose everything if she passes, like Serin?"

There was a pause.

"Are you losing faith in the princess?" Hawk asked softer still. When Banter failed to reply, he said, "You've known her as Pillar your whole life, High Mage. She's held out this long. She's stronger than she looks."

Almost as if on cue, Ciela's brows furrowed for a moment; she drew a sharp breath but did not stir.

"If you want to help her uphold Cephiro," continued the System Master, "you gotta trust her. And you gotta go help the Knights." He hesitated, then reached up the robe of his sleeve. "Here. You might want to read this."

Banter's face was stoic as he took the wrinkled, folded sheet of parchment from him. He scanned the first line of writing; then, just a hint of surprise showing through the mask, he began to read it out loud to himself.

_Dear High Mage—_

_No, I'm sorry, that's not the way I want to start this. Just "High Mage" will do. After what I've done, I don't deserve to say that first word to you, of all people. Let me start over._

_High Mage,_

_Even though this letter will probably—hopefully—be only read by yours truly, I want to apologize. It's the only way I can calm myself at all, to find the smallest shred of peace. I absolutely hate myself for what I did, and it was nothing but a shadow—so why am I writing you? It still feels like I've done something horrible, that's why. I'm sorry I killed you. There. I said it. I killed non-Banter in the Spring of Eterna, and I want to just curl up and die. You were so nice to us when we came, and you gave us magic, and you believed in us, and I killed you. You believed in us and I killed you._

The next few lines were dappled with teardrops; the ink was smeared, and he had to strain to read on.

_I'm so sorry. I wish I could go back and undo all of this. No, that isn't right either. I just wish that I had seen something else—anything else at all in Eterna besides what I did. I'll understand if you don't want to be my friend now—I won't be happy, but I'll understand._

_I really am sorry._

The letter was signed _Li Kimoi_.

Banter glanced up at Hawk. "Where did you get this?"

Hawk waved the question aside. "It doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is that you have a group of Knights who are depending on you to come through for them."

Banter absently re-folded the letter and stowed it inside his own robe as he looked at the princess again.

"You're right," he murmured. "I need to get to them as quickly as possible."

* * *

Mako didn't hear the noise quite at first. It played across his subconscious, not really registering, until Mokona curiously edged the door open a crack and sniffed at the late night air.

"What are you doing?" he began, but then fell silent as his attention was drawn outside by a faint, deep moan.

Li shuddered, and some of the beads of cold sweat on her ashen forehead trickled down like teardrops into her hair. Mako grabbed the water pitcher, wet a small towel, and wiped her face gently, all the while casting uneasy glances out the window.

The moan came again. It sounded almost mournful.

"Mokona, shut the door," Mako ordered quietly.

Mokona hesitated, then opened the door a bit further as he leaned out, sniffing harder.

"Mokona," Mako began again, "_shut the—_"

A shadow he had assumed was another tree just outside the shelter suddenly uprooted itself and darted into the forest, so swift and silent it could have been a spirit. Mako felt his blood freeze.

"_Door_," he finished, and even after Mokona had obliged, he stood staring, on the brink of shaking.

The low moaning came again, closer this time.

The shadow could have been anything, even just a trick of the moonlight. The sounds could have come from any source.

Mako thrust out his hands and focused on the orb on his glove. Even as his knives appeared in his grasp, he thought, _What am I doing?_

"I changed my mind," he said to Mokona. "You shut the door and lock it after I've gone out."

The guide did a double take, then began vehemently protesting. Mako cut him off. "Don't let anyone in besides me… or Banter, if he comes. Stay here until I get back. Do you understand?"

"PUU!" was the reply; then, under Mako's icy glare, it was reduced to a more humble, submissive version.

Mako shifted the dirk in his hand, then stepped into the night.


	23. Black Reunion

Chapter twenty-three… _Black Reunion_

_Li Kimoi is alone._

_She has been alone for a very long time. It is not a good feeling. She is cold, and she is almost blind in the darkness._

_At first, she had tried to escape this realm of solitude, but that was long ago. She has given up now. Instead of desperately searching for someone—anyone—to lead her away from this place, she sits hugging her knees, her head down. She has long since stopped screaming the names of her friends. They cannot hear her._

_She is alone._

* * *

Mokona stood at the window, watching as Mako disappeared into the blackness of the forest, and then watching the blackness itself, until the temperature inexplicably plunged.

He jumped, startled, then cast frantic glances all around the shelter.

Nothing out of the ordinary. But then why was the room so icy all of a sudden?

Li was trembling violently. Mokona, shivering almost as hard as she was, darted into the girls' bedroom and tugged a blanket out to her. He was trying to decide the best way to cover her without stepping on her when he stopped in his tracks.

He couldn't reach her, couldn't even get close: the air around Li's shaking form was almost too frigid to bear. He fell back, watching as the beads of sweat on her forehead froze to ice.

The girl was the _source_ of the sudden indoor climate change? How was that possible?

* * *

Mako plunged into the night, stumbling his way through the trees as quickly as he could without running into something. He held a knife ready in his hand.

That same low, mournful moan sounded again, louder this time—no, not louder, just nearer. He was getting close.

He continued, following the sound as it came twice more, veering right, then to the left again to avoid a cluster of trees, keeping his path as straight as he could—

—and without warning the forest simply ended.

Mako stopped for a moment, taking a second to breathe. Even though clouds blotted out the moonlight, he could just see that he was at the brink of a clearing. He wished he had a lamp, a penlight, anything. The thought of standing in the dark, waiting for something to happen, was not a reassuring one.

In exactly the same fashion as before, a shadow glided across his field of vision, so ethereal that he almost dismissed it subconsciously. He gripped the handle of his dirk.

"Who else is here?" he demanded loudly.

There was a soft rustling of cloth, and the clouds overhead parted. The clearing was bathed in pearly moonlight.

Someone stood in front of him.

Mako abruptly found himself thinking that perhaps charging into the woods alone was not the best move he'd ever made.

* * *

A shaft of red light appeared outside the eggshell-shaped shelter, and a sillhouette appeared inside it, revolving slowly. When the light faded, High Mage Banter was left just by the door.

Was it just him, or did Mokona's little shelter seem to radiate coldness?

The icy blast that met him when the door opened from the inside answered his question; Mokona hurriedly ushered him inside, gesturing wildly to the other side of the room.

The temperature in the shelter was so low that the High Mage felt his fingers grow numb almost immediately. He cast a quick spell over himself, then waited for feeling to return to his hands.

Briefly he wondered how it was that Mokona hadn't been frozen solid by this point, but dismissed the thought. Mokona had always been able to fend for himself somehow.

The Knights' guide directed Banter frantically to where Li Kimoi lay, and with every step the cold intensified. As the High Mage approached the Fire Knight's side, he found himself shivering slightly in spite of the magic around himself.

_Unbelievable,_ he thought. _What in Cephiro is causing this?_

* * *

_Li lifts her head and blinks wearily._

_Her surroundings have changed somewhat. She still sits in bleak darkness, still quite alone… but before her lies a forked road._

_How strange._

_She peers down one path, and then the other. The fork to the left seems as dark and endless as her current situation; the one on the right, though, seems to have a speck of color farther down the way._

_She tries to stand and fails. Her strength is waning. Instead, she goes to all fours and slowly drags herself closer to the split in the road._

_That speck of color… is that the sun?_

_She can hear the gentle crash of waves onto sand. As she edges towards the fork, she can almost smell the salty tang of ocean water in the air._

_She is about to pass the fork when a voice stops her._

* * *

"Welcome," said a voice that had been branded into Mako's memory forever.

The Water Knight resisted the temptation to throw his dirk, to try and sink the blade into Cail's body. He settled for gripping it tighter.

"Where's Keilin?" he demanded quietly.

"She is safe," Cail answered generally. "But before we talk about her, I have something I want to know—"

"What happened to Keilin at the Temple of Windam?" Mako demanded, and his voice shook with barely controlled anger.

"Later," Cail insisted, but Mako broke in again: "_Why did she attack us, and what happened to her magic?_"

The low moan that had led him out of the shelter answered him. Mako whirled to the side.

Something was there, four-footed and sleek, large but low to the ground, almost like a very broad wolf. Two eyes gleamed red in the darkness, and Mako could just make out its sharp teeth glistening with saliva as it tossed its funny-shaped head and made that bizarre noise again.

* * *

"_Li…"_

"_Li…?"_

_Her name… but where is it coming from? Whose voice is this?_

"_Li…!"_

* * *

"Come _on,_ Li," Banter muttered, and he forced himself to grab her by the shoulders; his hands fell numb immediately, but he shook her, gently at first, and then with more force. "Li. Li! Fight this. Wake up. Come _on_."

She did not respond.

He lowered her again and tried to get the blood in his hands to circulate. This was much worse than he had expected. When Hawk had said _dying_, Banter had assumed he was exaggerating slightly.

He hadn't been exaggerating in the least. This bitter cold proved it: Li Kimoi had given up fighting for her life; her hopelessness had manifested itself into frigid temperatures. She had a few minutes at most.

* * *

Mako barely had time enough to wonder what this creature was before it flew at him, so fast that it didn't register—he was thrown down, and two massive, heavy paws pinned him to the ground—he struggled briefly, to no avail, until the beast issued a low warning growl, and its hot breath washed over his face—

A shadow crossed his vision.

Mako glanced up to see Cail standing over him.

"If you stay still," the latter said quietly, "he will not rip your throat open." He paused, then continued, "Now that I have your attention, I want to know… _how did you get past the creature in the Temple of Windam?_"

Mako stared at him for a moment. What kind of question was this?

The wolflike being holding him down bared its teeth and lowered its head slightly as Cail added, "Please… this is very important."

Mako kept his silence. Slowly, he moved his hands underneath the monster's midsection, praying he would go unnoticed long enough for him to—

The beast glanced down as it saw movement.

Mako froze.

The monster made its strange moaning again and lunged for his neck—Mako pulled a knife from his glove and stabbed it upwards, and its prey yelped as it was thrown off course—he summoned a second dirk and threw it, and his aim fell true again: the creature dropped to the ground, dead, with a knife handle poking out of its skull.

"Very impressive," Cail commented after a moment's silence; his tone was almost too casual. "But you still haven't answered me."

"What difference does it make?" Mako snapped as his full quiver sprang from his glove to his shoulder.

The other did not seem worried. "I have seen you fight many times," he said, "but in every battle, you had the upper hand. I want to know: how did you survive when your will turned against you?"

_When my will did what?_ Mako wondered; images of the events in the Temple rose to his mind, and he briefly was able to recall the disorientation, the anger and guilt, the helplessness—_his_ helplessness to do anything but watch as the Keilin they knew was transformed into… into something completely else.

That cursed mediocrity again.

And hadn't his anger affected his performance as a Knight? His hatred of himself for not being in control had nearly blinded him. And yet…

Yet somehow, here he was, alive (though maybe not for much longer) while the serpent lay dead, in one piece while that monster's body was shredded all over the Temple.

Cail had a point. How _had_ he beaten that thing? And not only the monster—how had Mako beaten _himself_?

A different voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Forget it, Cail, he doesn't know."

The unearthly shadow suddenly revealed itself in the dimmed moonlight, and Mako found himself staring in horrified shock at the Knight of Darkness.

For a brief moment he wondered if maybe that wolflike thing hadn't hit him over the head. This was not Keilin. _This_ was some terrible nightmare, it had to be.

"What did you _do_ to her?" he shot at Cail.

Keilin gave no indication that she had heard him, but continued as she drew her black-studded sword from her glove, "Even if he did know anything, he wouldn't tell you. Let's just kill him and be done with it."

"_What?_" Mako yelled at the same moment Cail asked, "You would kill a friend?"

The split second between the question and Keilin's reply seemed to be an eternity. The girl gave her hair a small toss and smiled ever so slightly.

"A friend?" she said lightly. "We've never met."

And then she was gone, and a black streak seared the air like fire; Mako took hit after hit both on his armor and not; his own blood began to cloud his vision.

* * *

Murmuring magic under his breath as he began to weave the strongest healing spell he knew, Banter felt his hands shaking slightly, not just from the unbelievable bite in the air, but from a sudden, uncharacteristic wave of fear that was gnawing at his mind.

Li was going to die.

No. Absolutely not. As much as she annoyed him, as much as her odd behavior frustrated him, as much as her personality made him want to throw her off a cliff, he was not about to let her slip away.

He would see this girl awake again or die trying.

* * *

_Li feels the ground under her shudder violently, and a few things happen all at once._

_Without warning, the temperature plunges to just above freezing, and the gentle, reassuring sounds and smells of the ocean are suddenly gone—simply gone; in their stead they have left a gaping hole that she cannot see, but can sense all too clearly._

_The voice that had been calling her name screams once, as though in pain, and then falls silent._

_The hole somewhere in front of her begins to widen, to suck air in as greedily as a drowning person might. Li feels herself beginning to slide towards a darkness that reeks of hostility. She cries out and throws herself forward, desperately trying to claw her way back up the road to safety, knowing that her strength is gone and that she will never make it._


	24. I Heard You

Chapter twenty-four… _I Heard You_

Mako desperately ducked and rolled to the side, feeling flashes of pain snap at his body but ignoring them as hard as he could.

Keilin swung around to face him, her sword outstretched. Her mouth remained a straight line, but her eyes were shining brightly. She looked almost exhilarated.

"Had enough?" she whispered.

Mako, for a brief moment, could not find anything to say.

"What _happened_ to you?" was all he could manage when words finally came. "Keilin, why… what happened to you to make you become this?"

The girl suddenly tightened her grip on the hilt of her weapon and drew it back as if ready to rush at him again; Mako prepared to throw himself out of her way, but the need never came.

Keilin hesistated, then lowered her sword, threw back her head, and laughed violently.

Cail's face became unreadable, a stone mask, a blank page.

Mako wasted no time trying to decipher the other boy's thoughts; he simply watched both of them apprehensively until Keilin calmed herself.

"Don't you understand, Water Knight?" she murmured, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "_Everything_ has happened… _I_ have happened."

There was a short pause in which Mako quietly mulled over her reply before deciding that she had gone crazy, and then she pointed her sword at him again. "Do you want to die tonight?"

"Keilin, what—"

She flew at him, and a second later Mako felt cool steel up against his neck.

"Why won't you fight me? Do you _want_ to die?"

"Keilin, do you honestly think I _would_ fight you?!"

"Without your escudo weapons, you are powerless in this forest. If you will not fight me with your knives, will you fight me with magic?"

Mako felt a cold shiver run through him. "Stop talking like that! Keilin, it's me—I'm Mako, remember? Come back with me! We'll figure out a way to turn you back or something! Just—just come on, follow me, and we'll—"

Keilin stabbed at his heart; the blade glanced off his armor, and he felt himself stagger backwards.

She leaped forward and did it again. Then a third time.

"Will you fight me with magic?" she wondered aloud. "I think you will."

* * *

_Li can hear that voice again._

_No words, just moans, cries._

_Full of unhappiness. Pain, even._

_The hole of nothing grows wider, and she is pulled closer to it._

* * *

A bead of sweat trickled down the High Mage's forehead as he continued with the spell, as he poured his own energy into the magic enveloping the Fire Knight.

He could sense something flowing back into him… split-second, blurry visions that danced before his eyes… he saw a forest, saw Mako lying sprawled on the ground, unconscious, without armor, and Banter felt himself grow strangely dizzy, disoriented, like he'd just fallen a great distance… he saw blue sky, a field, a monster erupting from the ground… he saw Li now, and she and Mako were losing their balance, falling into each other… now a massive temple, a flare of green light, tears streaming down Keilin's face, a giant serpent dashing forward, its jaws spread wide… he could feel incredible pain in his leg, as if he'd been stabbed, and then it spread throughout his entire body… he saw his own face, and Li waving her letter…

A misty voice began to scream in his head.

High Mage Banter's hands began to shake. Li's memories, her emotions, her very heart and soul, they were almost too much for him, but he had to keep going, had to keep applying the spell—

* * *

—had to hold on, he would not attack Keilin, he would find some other way—

Mako's body hit a tree, and he crashed into the ground—his shoulder took the brunt of the impact, and he flipped, then rolled, and when he finally stopped, the world still spun crazily in circles—the air he gasped in was cold, extremely cold, it pricked his throat as he gulped it down—he was strangely aware of the sound of his own racing heartbeat as he desperately tried to push himself up—

"I'm quite impressed," came Keilin's voice from somewhere behind him. "Still able to move after all that… your willpower is far above average."

He staggered forward a step, then managed to turn around, his chest heaving. The Knight of Darkness appeared between the trees, and she casually followed him into the freezing open field. She was smiling pleasantly.

He'd never seen her smile like this before—a smile devoid of sadness, of uncertainty. An odd shiver, not born of the frigid air biting at his skin but of something more sinister, tingled up his spine.

"We're out of the forest now," Keilin said amiably, indicating the trees behind her with a sweep of her sword. "You can use magic. Come on. Attack me."

Mako wearily shook his head.

The girl shrugged one shoulder, as if to say, _suit yourself_.

"_Cursed Winds!_" she shouted, and from her hands exploded a storm of shadows—Mako tried to duck out of the way, but the attack followed him, and it hit him directly—his previous wounds were deepened as changes in the pressure alternately threatened to crush him or rip him apart, and in sheer agony he screamed, long and hard, until his lungs were empty—

"I hope this doesn't finish you off right away," he could hear Keilin calling over him. "I was hoping for more of a fight!"

And finally the shadows were dispersed; he fell limply onto the frost-coated grass, unable to move, unable to feel the cold now, only feeling the pain viciously tearing him limb from limb.

Cail appeared from the sidelines. Keilin took his hand, and he raised her along with himself six feet in the air.

"This is the end," he said simply, looking down at Mako's lifeless form, and Keilin screamed, "_DEMON WING!_"

* * *

_That voice… that voice… it's still screaming…_

_Li wants it to stop, wants it to stop more than anything else in the world, because she knows this voice now, and she knows why it's crying out…_

_She knows now… and she'll help. She has to._

Banter continued to see into Li's soul as he added his life to hers, but it was all just pictures of one face now, one laugh, one look of determination, one strength she truly admired, that face, _that face…!_

Li's face contorted slightly, and Banter's vision cleared; her eyes twitched under her lids, and then slowly these fluttered halfway open.

"Mako," she cried hoarsely.

* * *

_She's awake._

Mako jerked his head around. Where had that come from?

Li… was finally awake?

A choir of unearthly shrieks filled his ears, and the sound brought him back to reality: the fight, the pain, the magic, the swarm of demonic bats, _he was about to die._

Not now… not if he could help it… not when so many were counting on him.

He pushed himself up on his knees.

* * *

Cail and Keilin watched the Water Knight struggle as the shadow magic streaked towards him.

"I wonder," Keilin murmured, "why it's so cold right here."

"I sense powerful magic nearby," Cail answered. "And a darkness almost like yours. It may be that the Fire Knight has just di—"

At that moment, Mako thrust out his hands below them and screamed.

"_LAPIS DELUGE!!_"

* * *

Water burst from his hands, not just the twin columns he had come to expect, but more, wave after wave of them, all twisting together, weaving around each other, freezing into living pillars of ice in the frigid air, impaling each of the shadow bats through the head, coming closer together now, circling him and everything around him, forming a dome-shaped barrier as they settled into position…

Without a scrap of energy left in his body, Mako slumped back onto the grass.

As everything slowly went black, he heard a familiar voice calling faintly from somewhere inside his head.

_I heard you, Mako. When there was nothing else… I heard you._

* * *

Cail held the bubble shield up around himself and Keilin until the ice had stopped moving completely.

Then he held it up a little longer.

That magic… it was unbelievable. Explosive. Unlike anything he'd expected.

He turned to Keilin. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer, just stared blankly out at the cage of ice glistening innocently on the ground.

Cail placed a hand on her shoulder; when, strangely, she did not respond, he gently put a hand under her chin and turned her head towards himself.

Her eyes were heavy, glazed over, her vision turned inward.

"Keilin," he said loudly, and then again, "Keilin!"

She blinked twice, and her eyes began to cast off their heavy veils.

"Sorry," she said, coming back to reality as her gaze focused on him. "I must have gotten lost in thought."

"You must have," Cail lied. "It's alright."

For a moment, one fearfully long moment, he had thought he had lost her.

She was back, however; she was going to stay by him. That was good. He needed her. She was the key to everything.

Here he meant to turn his attention back to the barrier of ice the Water Knight had produced, but that, he realized, would require breaking eye contact with Keilin…

…and all of a sudden, he didn't really want to.

* * *

Mokona threw open the door to the shelter, and Banter stepped outside, staring with his mouth slightly open at the shield of ice that had mysteriously appeared overhead.

Li clung weakly to his arm, trying to support herself. Her eyes frantically scanned the ground.

"There," she whispered, jerking her head to one side.

Banter left her there to hold on to a doorpost; he cast one last amazed glance upwards, then strode across the frost-coated grass to where Mako Keines' limp form lay.

* * *

"What happened here?" Keilin asked quietly, gazing at the dome of ice.

Cail took his time to answer. "…it was… it was the Magic Knight of Water proving that he was more powerful than we thought."

"Was?"

"Too much of his energy went into that spell. I sense no life where he went down."

There was a brief pause, and then Keilin laid her head on his shoulder.

"If the Knights are dead, then we're a lot closer to our goal than we thought."

"Yes… but there is still one detail to be worked out before the final stage."

"You mean…"

Cail didn't answer, just fought the urge to stroke her hair once or twice.

Keilin stifled a quiet laugh. "For once… everything seems to be going right."


	25. Mako's Question

Chapter twenty-five… _Mako's Question_

The High Mage lifted Mako in his arms.

There was a short silence, just long enough for Li's mind to form a thousand different prayers and pleas with the heavens, before Banter shouted back towards the shelter the two words she needed to hear: "He's breathing!"

She sagged against the doorframe, limp with relief. Mako was alive. _Mako was alive_.

Banter carried the Knight of Water back into the shelter, then helped Li to lie down as well; as Mokona handed her a small pitcher of water and urged her to drink, the High Mage began weaving another healing spell, and slowly, the deep gashes and cuts all over the boy's body began to close.

* * *

He had no recollection of passing out, much less any idea of how long he'd slept. All Mako knew when he came to was that waking up had certainly been a mistake, and he was about to drift back into sleep when a quiet voice caught his attention.

"…really did all that for me?" It was Li; she sounded tired, but well, and Mako suddenly felt both guilty and relieved upon hearing her speak. He turned his head to see her sitting up in a bed against the other wall; apparently, they had both been put in the room Li and Keilin had once shared. He kept quiet, listening.

High Mage Banter, sitting on the foot of Li's bed, answered her. "He did. He saved your life."

Li was silent for a few seconds, her expression troubled. When she spoke again, she changed the subject completely: "What do you think was out there? Out in the forest, I mean—what was he fighting?"

"From the nature and severity of the wounds, something very powerful… a type of magic I've never seen before… it's a wonder he survived."

"It was all thanks to you."

"To me?" The mage sounded slightly taken aback.

"Yeah," Li answered. "Everything you just did… healing him, healing _me_… that must've drained a lot of your energy; you still look really pale."

"I did nothing." Banter's tone was stoic.

"That isn't true!" the Fire Knight protested, and then quieter, as if afraid she'd woken Mako, "That isn't true at all. I don't think we would've made it without you there… so thank you."

She sat up a little more, then reached forward and hugged him tightly. The High Mage blinked once or twice, surprised, but his expression soon softened, and he tentatively returned the embrace. "You're welcome," he said simply.

Mako froze, startled, and then sharply turned his head the other way, feeling the color rise in his face.

His movement caught Li's eye. "Mako? Are you awake?"

The Water Knight tried to make it seem as if he had just come around. "Yeah… I'm getting there." He stretched, yawned, and sat up, hoping his acting was more convincing than it sounded and noting that Banter and Li had finally let go of each other.

The High Mage stood up. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Mako answered woodenly.

Banter overlooked the flat quality in his tone. "I should hope so. You've both been sleeping for almost three days—a side effect of the healing magic, and one I must apologize for."

Mako stared at him blankly. Had it really been that long? He had slept in before, but… three _days_? He hadn't been hurt _that_ badly, had he?

The High Mage's voice broke in on his thoughts. "I must check on Mokona. I will leave you two to yourselves." He swept across the threshold and closed the door gently behind him.

Li watched him go. Then, turning her attention to Mako, she said, "I saw what your magic did earlier. That was amazing."

He shook his head slowly. "I don't remember everything clearly. I felt like… like everything just exploded, and then…" He trailed off, not wanting to say _And then all I could hear was your voice._

Li wrapped her arms around her knees, her white nightdress rustling as she shifted positions. "What happened in the forest?" she asked quietly.

For one split second, Mako considered lying to her, telling her it was just an unbelievably vicious monster that had attacked him—anything besides the truth, if it would keep the girl's heart from breaking—but it was out of the question. She needed to be told.

And so he relayed for her not just the forest, but _everything_ since they had escaped from the shrine of the Rune God—Cirrus, the city, Hawk Vision, Cail and his strange question—and Keilin, the Knight of Darkness, who hadn't recognized him at all but instead had tried to kill him with shadow magic.

Tears were flowing down Li's face by the time he finished, but the girl herself was as still as stone.

"Cail changed her, didn't he?" she whispered, not bothering to wipe her eyes. "He took her from us—he's the one we're after."

Mako looked at the floor. "There's just too much about him that we don't know, Li… Keilin knew him before all of this happened, but we have no way of knowing what took place when they met. The only thing I can say for certain is that yes, I believe he is our enemy. We may or may not be his main targets, but he is definitely one of ours."

"Do—do you think we can get Keilin back?"

_A friend? We've never met,_ a memory sang in Mako's mind; he closed his eyes, remembering the unbearable pain her sword and her magic had caused him, seeing the eyes of someone completely other than herself staring out at him from that haunted face.

She was so far gone… perhaps _too_ far gone. She wasn't even Keilin anymore.

Mako decided to lie now anyway.

"There has to be a way. And if there is, we'll find it."

Li nodded, but she was obviously unconvinced. She dried her face on the sleeve of her nightgown.

"What about you?" Mako asked after a pause. "Are you alright?"

"Banter says I'm going to be fine," she answered, avoiding the double meaning of the question. "His healing spell saved both our lives."

Mako found his gaze back on the floor again, and no matter how hard he tried he could not raise it. "Li…"

"Yeah?"

"Li, I…" The words weren't coming. "Look… it's just…"

"What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" From her tone, Mako could tell that she knew exactly what was coming. He took a deep breath.

"What happened to you was my fault, Li. I just stood there in the temple and let that snake thing get you. I could have stopped it. I _should_ have stopped it, but I didn't… I just…" He swallowed hard, trying to force his eyes to stop watering, and then continued, "I'm sorry you were hurt because of me."

Li's voice choked as she replied. "Mako, I h-have to know: _why didn't you help me?_"

"Because I'm average, selfish, and too afraid to try," he answered. "Li, please—can you forgive me?"

There was a long moment of silence; eventually, the girl finally broke it with, "I remember now, Mako. You said you had a question for me. And I remember you asking it, but I don't think I heard you… what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"I just asked if you could forgive me."

Although Mako was still avoiding eye contact, he could still see Li shake her head. "I can see it in your face," she said softly. "There's something else you wanted to ask me."

Mako's confused mind ran briefly, but there was nothing else he had planned to ask, or even remotely _felt_ like asking, besides…

No. Not possible. She couldn't know… could she?

Li's downhearted face fell even more. "Or maybe that was just something my head made up while I was out of it… never mind, Mako, I'm sorry."

"There _is_ something," Mako muttered before he could stop himself, and Li lifted her head up again. "There is?"

"Li, do you… do you love High Mage Banter?"

The girl blinked slowly. "Yes. I do."

Mako felt himself flush red again; he stood up, intending to leave the room, and at the same time Li continued, "Banter is a good man. He may try to hide it, but he has a kind heart. I love him as a dear friend, just as I love Hawk Vision and all Cephiro. I want to help him because of all the help he's given us." She waited a beat, then asked, "Why?"

His face still hot, Mako shook his head. "No reason."

Li studied him. "I don't think I believe you."

Before he could give himself time to decide against it, Mako sat back down. "When you were hurt at the Shrine of Windam, all I could think about was how much I'd miss you if you never came back," he admitted, "and what I'd be willing to do to bring you around again… you're one of my best friends, Li, I couldn't live with myself if you were to die because I didn't do a thing to help you…"

For the first time since before reaching the island in the sky, Li smiled at him—granted, a shaky smile, but her eyes reflected something deeper.

"You didn't need to tell me you were sorry," she said quietly, "you've already shown me everything I needed to see."

Mako hung his head. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"And I'm glad _you're_ still alive too," Li replied. She pushed herself to her feet, limped a little as she crossed the room, and seated herself again right next to him. "I am _so_ glad."

Mako felt as though a load of rock had just been lifted off his shoulders. He met Li's gaze, and a corner of his mouth rose in a wry smile.

The girl's face broke into a grin. "What, you're thinking I'm going to hug _you_ now?" She giggled as Mako froze, then continued, "Oooh, I get it, you're jealous of Banter, aren't you?"

"No—I'm just—what are you talking ab—"

"Oh, it was _so_ obvious earlier," she interrupted, still laughing, "and you're a terrible liar, you know?"

Mako opened his mouth to give a stuttered objection, but at that moment she leaned forward and flung her arms around his shoulders, and his unspoken protest was forgotten as he returned her embrace.

* * *

Fifty yards away from the shelter, two shadowed figures stood hidden in the trees, one leaning against the massive, mossy trunk of an oak, the other pacing furiously.

"This is _pointless_," Cirrus grunted, impatiently kicking at the ground. "Pointless!"

"Yes," Stratus snapped, "you've said that already."

"It's been almost three days," the woman continued as she walked, and she swung her staff in the general direction of the dome of ice that had only just begun to melt this afternoon. "_Three_! You'd think that if anything were still alive in there it would've shown itself by now!"

"We have our orders," Stratus said through gritted teeth.

"Master Cail said it himself," Cirrus went on, as if the swordsman hadn't spoken. "_He_ didn't even think anyone in there survived. So why are both of us stuck here? I could be out helping him in some other way, couldn't I?"

"You know as well as I do that the Magic Knights have a habit of returning at the most inopportune moment," answered Stratus, sounding as if he would love nothing more than to knock Cirrus unconscious if only to shut her mouth.

The woman grimaced at him. "Yes, well, I also know that nothing has happened here for _three days_, and that if any of them were still alive they'd have come out ages ago." She sighed, then finally leaned back against a tree, much like Stratus had been doing for the past five hours. "That ice had better melt _quick_. Magic couldn't get rid of it, and you couldn't get through it either… I don't want to be out here for a week just to give Master Cail peace of mind that these brats are dead."

"We—have—our—orders," Stratus repeated sharply, and the threat of what might happen if he were to lose the last remaining scrap of his patience was enough to silence the irritated sorceress.

* * *

The High Mage listened to Mako recount again what had happened to their group since arriving at the shrine of Windam, graciously ignoring the fact that the leader of the Magic Knights was speaking with his mouth full.

Li was cramming down food even quicker than Mako, but seeing as she hadn't eaten since well before the events at the Temple, Banter apparently had decided to overlook this as well.

"You say that the Rune God _attacked_ you?" he asked incredulously, as Mokona had to refill the platters on the table for the third time.

"Yeah," Mako said through a chunk of potato, "well, no, just Keilin, but still—" He tipped his head back and drained his glass, then continued as he filled his plate again. "I didn't think the Rune God would react at all like that." A fresh serving of everything before him, he began to wolf it down and choke out the rest of the details in between swallowing.

Li had long ago given up on a plate and had instead just grabbed the nearest serving dish laden with food. Now, about halfway through it, she showed no signs of slowing down, but her attention seemed to be more and more given to Mako's speech than to the salver.

Banter closed his eyes, sinking into deep thought as the Water Knight finished recounting it all for him.

"I have never heard anything like this before," he muttered, half to himself. "Not even in the legends… I had no idea something like this could happen."

"Do you know who this Cail is?" Mako asked, pausing between bites for the first time in ten minutes. "And do you know how he could've managed to… to…"

"To help Keilin along the path of darkness?" Banter finished. Mako nodded, and the mage continued, "No and no. I haven't the slightest idea who…" He trailed off, as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

"What is it?" Mako asked at the same moment Li said, "What do you mean, 'help Keilin along the path of darkness'?"

As Mako suspected he might, Banter gave his attention to Li's question.

"I could sense Keilin's struggle with her own personal despair the moment she arrived in Cephiro," he said gravely. "Do you remember the monsters she accidentally summoned just after I found you?"

Involuntarily, Mako's breath caught in his chest as a brief memory clouded his vision—but as quickly as it had come, it vanished with the sound of the High Mage's voice: "Still, there was a flicker of hope buried somewhere deep in her spirit. We all could see it. Slowly, Keilin was learning to overcome her own fears and burdens for the good of others. And then she succumbed to the darkness out of the blue."

"So you're saying that Cail _did_ do this to her," Li said, picking up her empty serving dish to move it out of the way.

Banter shook his head. "No matter how powerful he may be, there is little chance he is powerful enough to truly turn the heart of a Magic Knight." He took a long drink out of his own glass, then added, "No, unless I am much mistaken, Cail simply somehow conviced Keilin to surrender herself to the beast her despair had become. This was her choice."

_Crash._

The shards of Li's salver scattered across the floor, but the girl, staring wide-eyed at Banter, didn't seem to realize she had dropped it.

"Th-this… was _her own_ choice?" she whispered, horror-struck. "But… but if she's doing this willingly, why didn't she recognize Mako in the forest?"

"There are many possibilities," Banter answered, "but if I had to guess… Mako, you said Cail asked how you managed to keep your willpower strong, even when you lost your focus?"

Mako nodded. "Basically, yeah."

The High Mage considered this. "It could be that in a manner of speaking, Keilin gave herself to Cail when she gave in to despair."

"What does that mean?" Li asked, obviously dreading the answer.

"Think of it as being like a pit in the ground," Banter said. "Keilin had to choose for herself to jump in—to lose herself in whatever hopelessness she carries. And she would be free to climb out of the pit at any time… except that somehow, Cail is keeping her trapped where she is. If that is the case, she could easily rejoin you two and save herself, Princess Ciela and the rest of Cephiro… but, just as she chose darkness, she would have to choose to renounce it, and Cail is somehow making her unable of making that decision."

Li looked down at her hands in her lap, shaking violently.

Mako felt such a strong, sudden wave of disgust that his stomach twisted. He swallowed hard, then asked, "So what can we _do_?" Trying not to throw up everything he had just eaten, he added, "Is there _anything_ we can do?"

The mage was silent for a time, and presently the Water Knight steeled himself for that one word—_no—_that would make this nightmare complete.

_No_, however, never came.

"Revive the other two Rune Gods," Banter murmured at last. "We must revive them as quickly as possible. Every second counts now. And once the Rune Gods have been awakened, we must…" He trailed off, as if reluctant to finish, and then forced himself to say it: "We must go to Princess Ciela—we will interrupt her prayers, if need be. It will… it will be a small sacrifice in the bigger scheme of things, if there is anything the Pillar can do."

Mako stared at him, not believing what he had just heard.

What was it Li had said? _Is Riuki Ciela? There's a way we can find out… if you were to simply ask her face-to-face…_

Was it possible—was it possible at _all_—that his sister was here in Cephiro with him?

"There is one more thing," Banter said, interrupting his thoughts. "This may or may not be relevant, but you may want to hear this: I do not know who this Cail is, but I recognize his name. _Cail_ is a slight alteration of a word in the ancient runic language, _Cailon_… roughly translated, it means _serpent_."


	26. Fear

Chapter twenty-six… _Fear_

Cirrus blew her white hair out of her eyes, stood up straight and brushed the tree bark off of herself.

Stratus didn't look up or even open his eyes, but, as always, he sensed her movement. "What are you doing?"

The sorceress resisted the strong temptation to stick her tongue out at him. "I'm leaving, that's what I'm doing."

"You said it yourself. Master Cail said to stay."

"I _know_ that," Cirrus snapped back. "But we're just wasting our time! I could be out help—"

She broke off in a scream and fell backwards into her tree as Stratus, in one swift, fluid motion, opened his eyes, drew his sword, flew at her, and plunged the blade into the wood, just inches from her head.

"I am very, _very_ tired of hearing you talk," the swordsman growled as she gasped for breath, eyes wide in fear. "If you're going to leave, then do it already."

Cirrus opened her mouth, trying to speak, but nothing came out. Shaking, she stepped to her right, then turned and fled into the woods.

Stratus watched her run until she was out of sight, scowling, and then returned his gaze to the slowly melting ice dome over the shelter of the Magic Knights. He wondered if she would remember that she couldn't use her magic in this monster-infested forest before meeting up with a creature out looking for dinner. Probably not. Cirrus was stubborn, arrogant, and emotional. She would be too busy sulking to think about anything else until it was too late.

Stratus' scowl rose into a slight grin. Good riddance.

* * *

Li choked and coughed the water she had been drinking out of her windpipe. Wiping her mouth, she slammed her glass down and stared at the High Mage as if he were crazy.

"_Split up?_" she repeated. "You want us to split up _now_?"

Banter folded his arms, losing his hands in the red folds of cloth. "Speed is of utmost importance," he said. "We must revive the other two Rune Gods as quickly as possible, and we can save a considerable amount of time by reviving two at once."

"No," Li shot at him. "No way. Tell him, Mako! Tell him that isn't an option!"

"I'm not sure what I _should_ say," Mako answered. "Banter's right—we need to move fast—but splitting up is dangerous. Too dangerous. It's a high risk to take."

Li nodded at him. "And remember what the innkeeper at Farway said."

"There is no other way," Banter said calmly. "Cail and Keilin have had three full days to prepare—to _do_—almost anything. We have handed them time on a silver platter, and even though it was absolutely necessary that you two return to full health, we can afford to rest no longer. Going to both Shrines as a group will only endanger Cephiro."

Mako shook his head. "Even if we do part ways, there's only one Mokona. How will we know…?"

"Mokona shall accompany you to the Rune God of Water," Banter said as Mako trailed off. "And I shall go with the lady to the Rune God of Fire."

Li looked at Mako and pleadingly shook her head _no_.

The Water Knight broke eye contact with her and glanced at the floor, mulling it over. "Well… I just don't think… but we'll have to…" He sighed and shook his head. "High Mage, I hate to admit it, but you're right. We'll follow your course of action."

Li pressed her lips together, rose to her feet, and fled out of the shelter.

Banter got up as well, starting for the door, but Mako stopped him. "Wait—let me go after her."

The High Mage raised an eyebrow at him, but let him go without a word.

* * *

Mako found Li sitting with her back to the far side of the shelter, her arms around her knees and her face buried in her sleeves. He sat down beside her. "Hey, you okay? What's the matter?"

"Nothing at all," the girl said shortly, her voice muffled by cloth. "And I'm just great. How are you?"

Mako blinked, slightly taken aback. He had never heard Li use this tone of voice before. "Don't start this," he said. "Look at me."

Li kept her head down, and Mako repeated himself. "Come on, look at me. I just want to talk."

"You don't understand!" Li blurted, almost cutting him off, and sharply sat upright. "You just… you don't…"

"What is the _matter_ with you?" Mako asked, caught off-guard by this sudden outburst.

Li glared at him. "Do you know what I saw while I was out of it after the monster in the temple got me?"

Mako tentatively shook his head _no_.

"_Nothing at all_," Li said, and she quivered slightly as she said it. "I was alone in the world. Nothing to hear, to see, only this strange feeling that no one was ever going to come for me, that I was doomed to sit in the dark by myself until I died."

Mako could not answer.

"Do you think I _enjoyed_ that feeling?" Li asked quietly. "Do you think I like being alone?"

"No one does," Mako said. "But we aren't leaving you forever. And Banter is going with you. We'll meet again soon enough."

Li turned her gaze to the wall of ice before her. "It's just… when I woke up, I thought…" She trailed off, searching for words.

"You thought?" Mako prompted.

"Forget it," Li said, and Mako distinctly heard her add "_Men_" darkly under her breath. Without a clue as to what he should do and wishing desperately he'd just let Banter follow her, he asked, "Li, what do you want me to tell you?"

"That this is all a bad dream and that we haven't even arrived at the Shrine of Windam yet," the redhead muttered.

Mako pushed himself to his feet. "Li, will you get a grip on yourself?"

The girl, who had obviously been expecting sympathy, stared at him, startled.

Mako continued. "Sulking doesn't fit you. There's nothing wrong with being afraid—unless you let it ruin your life like this, of course, so go ahead and be afraid, but show it some other way, okay?"

"I'm not—" she began, but he cut her off. "No, let me finish. I understand how it feels to be afraid of something. But to just let it carry you away… well… I hate to say it, but isn't that what happened to Keilin?"

Li's eyes went wide, but he kept going. "And when I let my fear get the better of me, we all suffered because of it. You're afraid of being left alone. Maybe you experienced your fears while you were asleep because you needed a chance to face them. Or maybe it was a training session for what has to happen now. You and I both need to face our fears and take control of them."

"Easy for you to say," Li said, but her voice was not harsh anymore. "You're afraid of being attacked by giant snake monsters. That only happens every once in a while. _I_ could have to… to 'face my fear' at any moment."

"Not true," Mako answered, sitting back down beside her. "I understood it just a little while ago. It isn't the _monsters_ I'm afraid of—it's what I'm associating them with."

Li cocked her head. "What is it, then?" she asked.

Mako gave a wry grin. "_Failure_. I'm so afraid of screwing everything up that I won't even try, and when I _do_ try, I'm so afraid of repeating past mistakes that I push myself past the point of reason to succeed."

The girl blinked. "That explains a lot," she said after a pause.

Mako nodded. "So don't worry that we're splitting up. Everything's going to be alright."

"I hope so," Li said. Then, as an afterthought, "What do you think Keilin's so afraid of?"

Mako shrugged. "That's her own business. If—_when_—we get her back, she may tell us if she feels it's the right thing to do. And if not…"

Li raised and lowered one shoulder. "I guess you're right." She sighed, her gaze growing distant as her thoughts turned inward for just a moment. Within seconds, though, she blinked and focused on Mako again with a hint of her signature smile on her face. "Yeah. We'll be okay, won't we?"

He nodded, and her smile grew. "Thanks, Mako." And before he could react, she leaned forward, kissed him on the cheek, and then positively scrambled to her feet and ran out of sight around the shelter, her own face flushing.

* * *

Stratus blinked and focused harder on the ice dome.

Had he just imagined it, or had he just seen some blurred activity behind the frozen cage? Could that brief flash of red have been nothing more than a reflection of some overhead creature, or was his quarry still alive and active?

He tightened his grip on his sword. Maybe it was time to go check things out.

* * *

Cirrus fled, not paying attention to where she was going, just flying over the ground, trying to put as much ground between herself and Stratus as she could.

She couldn't stand him, she couldn't stand him at all, and there was no reason Master Cail kept him around, she was of infinitely more worth to him than Stratus was, Stratus was just jealous, Master Cail needed her, he couldn't do it without her, he trusted her and knew she was his highest, his _strongest_ servant—

Her foot caught on a tree root, and she stumbled. Barely catching herself, she sagged against the trunk of an enormous, mossy tree, breathing hard. It was a few seconds before she realized where she was.

Her tree was on the brink of a wide, open clearing… and there were two figures standing perhaps twenty feet away, both unaware of her presence behind the giant wooden pillar…

The Knight of Darkness was applying her impressive skill with a sword to a massive gray-furred beast, and Cail stood to the side, watching approvingly.

Cirrus felt as if fate had taken her by the hand and led her here.

Cail eventually threw a hand towards the monster, and without a sound it vanished. Keilin's sword vanished into her glove.

_Certain magic types still work in here,_ Cirrus thought, and a sudden burst of jealousy reared its head inside of her. _No. That doesn't matter. I'm better than Stratus is, even if he can use his sword in this place and I can't cast a spell._

"...the last one?" Keilin was saying.

Cail nodded. "That should be enough." He closed his eyes and tilted his face upwards. "In fact… I believe everything is ready."

"Then it's time?" Keilin asked, her tone hopeful as she stepped near him.

Cail nodded once, very slowly, and then met her gaze. "Yes," he answered quietly. "It is time for both of us to assume our rightful, _true_ powers."

A branch snapped behind Cirrus. The sound startled her; she had felt for a moment as if everything outside the clearing had ceased to be. She whirled around and found herself face-to-face with two rows of large, sharp-looking teeth.

Behind her, a blinding light erupted from where her master and the Knight were standing; wind exploded past, nearly throwing her off her feet; something was happening, something terrifying but important, but she could not stay for fear of being blown into the teeth of the monster that was advancing on her—but if she ran, would it catch her anyway?

There was really no choice. Cirrus, frightened more than she had ever thought possible, fled for her life, her eyes stinging and watering from the impossibly bright light, her ears filled with the whistling of the wind and the sound of heavy footfalls pursuing her.


	27. The Parting

Chapter twenty-seven… _The Parting_

Mako had just enough time to touch his face with two fingers and wonder what the heck had just happened before he heard the unmistakable sound of a collision and Li's yelp of surprise. All thoughts of the girl's sudden display of affection vanished as the High Mage strode into view, shepherding Li along with him. If the girl's face had been red before, it was nothing compared to the shade of crimson it had achieved now.

Mako stifled a laugh and got to his feet as Banter took his hand off Li's shoulder. "I was hoping to run into you," the High Mage told her, "but not literally."

The girl did not acknowledge the intended pun; she seemed as if she wanted nothing more than to vanish.

Banter held back a wry grin and continued as she continued to stare at the ground. "We have no more excuses for delay." His tone became more serious. "It is time to go. Li and I will go west. Mako, you and—"

Almost as if on cue, the shelter glowed brightly and vanished, and Mokona bounced in from nowhere and landed firmly in the Water Knight's arms. "Pu-pu-puu!" the guide blurted, beaming up at him proudly.

Mako saw Banter clench his hands into fists as the High Mage tried to ignore the interruption. "You and Mokona will go southeast," he said stiffly. "And we shall meet together at the castle once we have revived the other two Rune Gods. Mako, if you run into trouble, Mokona will try and contact me, but you must remember that the Rune Gods are our number one priority. Likewise, I shall contact Mokona if need be, but you must reach the Shrine before anything else. Do you understand?"

Mako nodded.

That seemed to satisfy the mage. He looked away from Mako and glanced back at Li. "The Water Knight's magic was unnaturally strong," he said to her. "I am surprised it lasted as long as it has. There is nothing that can pierce this ice except another Knight's magic." He waved one red-robed arm toward the ice overhead. "I suppose we are lucky we have you with us, Knight of Fire. Lady, if you please…"

* * *

Stratus noticed a flash of light from inside the ice. He hadn't been seeing things.

If the Knights were alive inside their little dome, they would probably try to break out soon. Maybe that was what they were doing now. _Excellent,_ he thought. _They will not be waiting for an attack._

He had just stepped out of the trees when Cirrus' shrill scream pierced the air.

Stratus stopped and swore under his breath. That woman, that incompetent, slow-witted failure of a sorceress, what in Cephiro had she gotten herself into now? She was so much more trouble than she was worth, couldn't the master see that? That stupid wench could die for all he cared. This was so much more important.

He watched another burst of light appear from nowhere inside the ice. Any second now the Knights would show themselves, any second…

"_Stratus!!_"

The fright in her voice was unmistakable. Cirrus' scream was bloodchilling; she was terrified and desperate for her life, wherever she was.

As a thin jet of fire broke through the ice barrier and wove its way around the dome, Stratus let out a yell of frustration and turned back into the forest, his sword drawn.

* * *

The sight of fire through a wall of ice was one that Mako would not forget easily.

A ribbon of fire streamed from Li's hands, drilled through the ice and enveloped the entire structure. Water—liquid water now—dripped down like a prelude to a rainstorm, and suddenly the flames were gone, the dome was gone, and an ocean dropped from the sky, soaking into the thirsty ground.

Banter waved a hand casually, removing the small magic barrier he had erected to keep them dry. "Well done," he said to Li, who gave a small but proud smile. "Now let us move as quickly as possible. Time is of utmost importance." As if to emphasize his point, he then turned his back to them, lifted both hands to the sky and yelled, "_Beast, I summon thee!_"

A shaft of light exploded from the ground, and a large, hulking silhouette appeared inside of it. The High Mage crossed his arms and then flung them down; the light dissolved, and the shadow melted into a living creature—a griffin, with the powerful, muscular legs of a lion and the majestic head and wings of an eagle—which chirruped loudly and flexed its clawed front paws, waiting for them.

Mako half expected Li to shy away, but apparently the girl was too used to seeing unbelievably strange things by this point to object. Banter had mounted, sitting between the enormous, glossy wings, and helped Li to climb up behind him. She fastened her arms around his waist, steeling herself for what would probably prove to be an uncomfortable ride.

Mokona waved cheerily, as if this was all some happy fun-filled outing, and Mako halfheartedly lifted his hand as well.

Banter gave them a solemn nod. Li, her gaze fixated both on Mako and solid ground, did nothing.

The griffin's wings shot out, and the creature lifted into the air as easily as Mokona's pink aircar. It hovered for a second, just long enough for the girl to unfreeze and scream a frantic farewell before it and its passengers soared into the open air, making for the western horizon.

Mako watched them for a few seconds before a bolt born of magic grazed the side of his face from behind. Startled, he whirled around, rubbing at the stinging skin as he did so.

A giant, scaled nightmare of a creature stood before him, its claws raised, ready to swipe, its fangs snapping open and shut as it swung its head from side to side—but it was not facing him.

Mako looked past it. The creature's intended prey was not himself, after all, but a young woman pointing a purple-globed staff at it…

Cirrus.

And beside her stood Stratus, holding his broadsword before him. His dark cape waved in the light breeze, dancing in sync with his long silver hair. His striking features and even the sapphire glint of his eyes were visible from a distance.

Neither the pair of them nor the monster seemed to notice the Water Knight standing alone just thirty feet away. Cirrus had apparently shot at the monster and missed, unknowingly grazing Mako's face; now, she readied another spell, and Stratus yelled at her furiously.

"_You will do nothing!_"

"Shut _up,_" Cirrus screamed back, just as angrily. "I can take care of this!"

"Yes, you did an excellent job of that back in the forest," Stratus shot at her, and as the scaled beast lunged for him, he swung his broadsword and sliced its head off in one fluid motion.

Cirrus blasted its remains to dust with magic, apparently more out of frustration than anything else. Then she immediately returned to shouting at the other man: "I _hate_ you, you selfish, arrogant ego with a sword, always being so smug, like you're _better_, I'd like to spear you with ice magic a thousand times over and feed you to a monster—"

Stratus began snarling something much more detailed at her, and their voices blended into a tangled heap of unintelligible threats.

"Puu-uuu!" came Mokona's voice, and Mako started; his guide's tone was so oddly cheerful that it clashed noticeably with the duet of the two henchmen in front of him. He looked down to see Mokona waving goodbye to the vanishing griffin and its passengers.

The argument behind him stopped abruptly.

Mako looked up again, dreading to see what he knew he would find.

Cirrus and Stratus were staring at him, she with a look of bewilderment on her face, he baring his teeth as he tightened his grip on his sword.

Then Cirrus' gaze went above Mako's head, and her mouth opened slightly; she elbowed Stratus hard and pointed to the sky.

She'd seen Banter and Li.

Mokona shot a beam of light into the open grass to his left, and the pink aircar appeared without a sound. The guide bounced toward it, motioning for Mako to follow.

Cirrus lifted her staff, aiming for the griffin.

A knife appeared in Mako's hand before he even realized he'd pulled the entire quiver from his glove. He could not leave now, he realized, not until his friends had gotten safely away. He threw the dirk as hard as he could, willing it to pick up blinding speed as it flew—

Stratus saw it and struck it to the ground with his broadsword in a swing so quick that it was nothing but a flash of steel.

_No way,_ Mako thought, _that's impossible—_

Another bolt of blue lightning streaked from Cirrus' outstretched staff, soaring for the griffin and those it carried.

"_Leviathan Blade!_" Mako yelled, and he directed the dragon straight up into the air—it opened its mouth and darted forward, swallowing the bolt—it reached the end of the electric attack and exploded, a million droplets of water evaporating as they fell.

Cirrus lividly glared at him. Stratus curled one corner of his mouth up and rushed forward, his footfalls causing mud to splatter in all directions as he ran across the soggy ground.


	28. Three Days

Chapter twenty-eight… _Three Days_

Power.

Strength unlike any she'd ever felt before, flooding her entire body, her very heart and soul, not just in her but a part of her, as if it had fused with her very being…

_Keilin… can you hear me?_

_Yes,_ she answered silently, for there was no need to speak. _I can hear you._

_You are more than capable of handling this power, Keilin… I feel your heart's strength in every beat._

_Then it is time to move._

_Yes. I shall take you north._

_Cail…_

_Yes._

_I am doing this for you._

_I know._

_Even after all this, I am still doing it all for you._

_I am… glad to hear that, Keilin._

They fell silent, and the Knight stood there with her eyes closed, trembling but basking in the feel of such strength coursing in her, as if this new power had replaced her blood. She could sense the spell Cail had begun to weave; within seconds, a gale burst from the ground beneath her feet and shot straight upwards, and the Knight and her master were lifted together as if on wings.

North. To the castle. Where the biggest loose end needed to be tied.

Keilin kept her eyes closed and allowed Cail's magic to fly her along.

* * *

Li, wrapping her arms tightly around the High Mage's waist and hanging on for all she was worth, felt Banter abruptly grow tense and shiver.

"What is it?" she asked loudly, so as to be heard over the roar of the wind. "Is something the matter?"

"It is nothing," the mage answered automatically; then, as if catching and correcting himself, he added, "I felt… _something_… a large tremor in the magic of the world."

"You felt a what?" Li asked, but Banter continued, more to himself than to her: "It could not have been a faltering of Ciela's prayers… not yet, at least, she still has _some_ strength left… then that must mean…" He trailed off, and Li prodded, "It must mean _what?_"

The High Mage paused for a moment, then craned his neck around to look her in the face. "I cannot tell you exactly what it is, Lady, but something terrible has happened in the fabric of the magic that _is_ Cephiro… something that I sense will affect the whole of the world."

"_Keilin,_" Li whispered, and the rushing air snatched the sound of her voice away from even herself.

* * *

Stratus was a giant of a man, tall, broad, all muscle. His sword was enormous and thick; even his clothes and his boots looked heavy.

_So why on earth does he move so fast?_ Mako thought desperately, diving to the side and feeling mud soak into his pants, smear on his skin, decorate his face. The broadsword slashed the air where he had just been.

He heard Cirrus call out the name of a spell; as quickly as he could, he got to his feet and threw a knife at her, all in one smooth motion, before she even had her staff raised to direct the magic at the vanishing griffin.

He had forgotten for a split second that Stratus was right behind him.

The impossibly large sword slammed into his armor. The blade did not pierce the escudo—if it had, Mako would have hit the ground in two neat pieces—but it knocked the air out of him, threw him into the ground facefirst.

Somewhere to his left, Mokona began shrieking wildly.

Dazed, Mako pushed himself to all fours, spitting mud out of his mouth and trying to expel it from his nose. He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and looked around. Mokona was there, a good distance away, jumping and squealing and gesturing crazily at the aircar, and Cirrus was on Mako's right, preparing to fire again at his friends, and Stratus—

A giant hand grabbed Mako's hair and yanked his head back.

"Your armor is of the legendary escudo, is it then?" came Stratus' angry snarl.

Mako tilted his head back as far as he could, and the man's upside-down face swam into his field of vision. "Yeah," he answered. "What, you can't get through escudo—ow!"

The hand had tightened its grip and pulled harder on Mako's head. "Escudo armor doesn't matter if it doesn't cover your throat, boy," Stratus shot at him.

Eyes watering from the pains in his scalp and neck, Mako thrust his arms back over his head and shouted, "_LAPIS DELUGE!_"

Faster than seemed possible, Stratus shoved him forward and turned, shielding himself in his thick cloak. The attack did nothing except buy Mako enough time to stand.

Except that was exactly what Mako wanted.

He threw three more dirks at Cirrus in quick succession, trying to stave off her final blast at the faint outline of the griffin, shot another spell in Stratus' direction, and then scrambled for the aircar.

Mokona bounced impatiently on one of the seats, as if to say, _Well, it's about time._

* * *

Princess Ciela, the Pillar of Cephiro, felt her concentration slipping.

No. She had to continue. There was no other choice. She kept her eyes firmly closed, her hands securely clasped, and began murmuring her prayers aloud, but her concentration wasn't _slipping_ anymore, it was being _dragged_ from her—a fracture in the magic of Cephiro impacted her soul, and her heart was suddenly flooded with the fears of the good, innocent people of this world, the people who were in trouble—she could feel it, _her_ people were in danger, and now more than just danger—they were scared, they were being eaten alive by terror, no, please, not her world, not Cephiro, not the people she loved, in so much pain and drowning in fear—

Ciela pressed her fingers against her temples and screamed.

The huge oak doors slammed open, and Hawk Vision flew into the room, dropping to his knees beside her on the enormous purple cushion. "Princess!"

Ciela continued to scream like a child, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands cupping her face, until Hawk's own calloused hands took them gently, and the System Master slowly eased her back from the private worlds of her heart to reality, using nothing but his reassuring voice.

The Pillar's despairing cries subsided, but she continued to gulp for air, tears streaming down her face. Hawk Vision coaxed her eyes open, and it was only then that she seemed to understand where she was.

"H-Hawk," she moaned, flinging herself forward and sobbing into the folds of his wrinkled palace robes. It was the most heartwrenching sound the mechanic had ever heard, the voice of such a pure soul broken by the hopeless burden of an entire world. "Hawk, Cephiro, it's… it's…"

"It's what, Princess?"

"It's dying, Hawk, this world is dying, and I can't do anything to stop it, Hawk, everyone in Cephiro, they're all going to die, and I can't pray, _I can't pray, Hawk!_"

The Pillar of Cephiro let out a desperate wail and buried her face in his bright orange sleeve, and her great sobs racked her entire body. "_I've failed my people, and they're going to pay the price!_"

* * *

Stratus gingerly rubbed where the Knight's spell had hit him, just beneath the throat. Stewing in anger, he glared at the pink aircar making its way south, already too far out of his range, and a wordless snarl escaped his mouth.

Silently, he swore to himself that he would make the boy's death as long and remarkably painful as possible.

The sorceress beside him did not attempt to fire at the fleeing Knight of Water. A pleased, dreamy look had claimed her face, and she was standing at ease with the globe on her staff pointed downwards.

Stratus wanted to let his broadsword take a few good chunks out of her. Instead of dicing her up, though, he snapped, "What's gotten into you?"

Looking as though she were straining to hear some faint, disembodied choir, Cirrus did not reply right away. A few seconds passed before she answered softly, excitedly: "Can't you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Stratus snapped.

The sorceress closed her eyes, listening intently to nothing. "It's happening… exactly the way he said it would… it's all beginning right now."

And in that instant, the swordsman felt it too.

Cirrus was right. Master Cail's plan of attack was beginning. It was only a matter of time now… only a matter of time until the enemy was subdued and destroyed.

* * *

The High Mage and the Fire Knight hadn't been airborne for half an hour when a strange noise, like distant screaming, drew the girl's attention to the ground—and then she herself screamed as well.

"Banter!" she cried, clutching fistfuls of his robes. "Banter, below!"

The mage glanced downward and felt the blood drain from his face.

They were directly over a small settlement—or rather, the remains of one. More monsters than he'd ever seen together at once were swarming through it, and parts of it were on fire, others were encased in ice, some crushed, and the people—oh heavens, the people—running, scattering, bleeding, trapped and dying, crying for help and finding none, and suddenly he realized…

This was the tremor in the magic of Cephiro. And that meant…

That meant this wasn't happening just here. This incredible torrent of demons, creatures, fiends and beasts… it was everywhere, in every city and village throughout Cephiro… all of these monsters were being driven like-mindedly to every populated area throughout the world.

His stomach lurched, but he managed to keep its contents inside his body where they belonged.

"_Banter!_" Li screamed over his shoulder. "We have to do something! Tell this stupid bird to land! _Hey, you bird!_ Go down! _Down!_ Land, you stupid thing!" She began frantically ramming her leg into the griffin's side—"_Land, land, land, land—_"

He twisted around sharply, yelled over the griffin's surprised squawking. "No, Li—no!"

She glared up at him, crying freely as she demanded, "_What do you mean, no?_"

The High Mage's vision blurred, and hot tears flowed from his eyes as well; he was powerless to stop them. "There's nothing we can do! It's too late—this is happening everywhere! _We have to keep going, we have to revive the Rune God at all costs!_"

"NO!" Li screamed. "I'm not willing to pay that price!"

"It's your only chance of saving Cephiro now!" Banter shot back at her. "Please understand! You might save one or two here and now, but the loss of life if the Rune God is not revived will be much greater!"

Li collapsed against him, weeping helplessly. "I know that… I know that, but… oh, turn back, turn back, we have to turn back… turn back… please, Banter, please…"

The salty, bitter taste of his own tears on his tongue, Banter reached over his shoulder and gently clasped a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure himself as much as he was her.

They had given three days to Cail and Keilin.

Those two had not wasted that opportunity. Three days was more than enough time to assemble a massive army of demons, if one was powerful and determined—and crazy—enough to do so.

Banter wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his robe as Li continued to cry into his shoulder.

His Pillar, his people, his world. Oh, heavens, his Cephiro.

* * *

Mako, pressing his hands against the protective bubble over the aircar, stayed as still as stone, save for his uncontrollable shaking.

The aircar ride had been quiet and uneventful until they had passed over Farway. Mako's attention had been caught by a spurt of fire from below—and he had gotten his first glimpse of the ocean of monsters ravaging the village.

What was this? Where had they come from?

His hands clenched into fists on his lap as he saw the remains of the inn where they had stayed before, only identifiable because it was the largest of the piles of debris. Two of the smaller buildings flanking it were on fire. It was only a matter of time until the flames spread to ignite the remains of the inn.

Mokona had long since given up trying to tug him away from the side of the car. His own little heart was much too heavy to put any further effort into the endeavor.

Presently, the guide heard the voice of the High Mage calling faintly from somewhere far away. He _puu_ed sadly in response, and from the orb on his forehead came a projection of Banter's unusually grave and pallid face, framed by his dark hair as it fluttered in the moving air.

Mako did not turn his head, but he sensed the third presence in the aircar nonetheless. "Banter… what _is_ this?" he managed, his voice thick.

The High Mage seemed to have aged incredibly in just a few short hours; he spoke with the air of one who has lived too long. "This is the plague of evil on our land."

"It's Cail, isn't it?" Mako demanded quietly.

"Yes, it is Cail," Banter murmured, "and Keilin, under him."

"I'll kill him."

"Remember the Rune Gods, Magic Knight."

"I will kill Cail if I have to hunt for him the rest of my life."

"Revive the Gods first. We must revive them before anything else."

"So help me, I'll take that devil down with me if I have to, I don't care, I _will_ kill him the next time we meet."

"And Keilin?"

Mako, gaze still fixed on the ground below, did not answer.

Banter's voice shook with barely-suppressed grief. "It is just as I have said, Water Knight. _We must revive the Rune Gods, no matter what._"

The connection was broken, and the Knight and the guide were alone again.

Mako's hands stayed on the bubble, but his head dropped, and he fought the burning tears wetting his face in vain.

* * *

The sorceress' cold, sharp laugh rang like a high-pitched bell throughout the muddied battle arena as she tilted her head back, enjoying the feel of supremacy. Her companion, in contrast, became as silent and still as stone, his eyes closed, listening to their master speak directly to his mind:

_Stratus, everything is in motion. The Knights are still alive, aren't they? I can sense them moving toward the Shrines of the other Gods. My Dark One and I will arrive at the castle in just a few short hours. You and Cirrus will meet the remaining two Knights at the Temples and deal with them before the Gods are awakened, and then join us here. Hurry; the Knights are nearing the Shrines even now._

"My life is your service," Stratus mumbled in reply, and when he felt the master's presence leave his mind, he relayed the message to Cirrus.

The woman's eyes gleamed ferociously. "I want the Fire Knight."

"The girl has the High Mage with her," Stratus warned.

Cirrus glared at him. "What, you don't think I can defeat him?" she snapped, and before Stratus could point out the major losses on her track record, she added, "I don't care about the High Mage! This is a matter of personal pride!"

Stratus snorted, as if to say, _What pride?_

Cirrus opened her mouth to snarl at him, but closed it as her expression suddenly grew thoughtful.

"The High Mage," she mused after a second. "He won't be a hinderance… in fact… he'll be a great deal of help."

With that, she spun on her heel, raised her staff to the clouds and cried, "_Beast, I summon thee!_"

Her monstrous winged lizard cascaded from the sky in a ball of light, landing heavily on the ground before her. It snapped its massive jaws impatiently, grunting, eager to get on with the chase.

Stratus felt his lip curl. "I have a matter to settle with the Knight of Water anyway," he said darkly. "Don't get yourself killed." Without the aid of a magical creature, he began running in the direction the aircar had gone, using his steel willpower to move his legs much more quickly than humanly possible.

Cirrus sneered as she watched him. "Showoff," she called, but he did not respond, so she hoisted herself onto her mount, slapped its reins, and rose into the air.


	29. Here

Chapter twenty-nine… _Here_

Li had kept her face buried in the High Mage's robes since they passed the village being attacked by monsters, her eyes dry and slightly swollen, her mind fuzzy and numb. One idea surfaced in the hazy ocean of her thoughts: _If I just don't look, all of this might just disappear._

Some time passed—maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour or two; time seemed to have no meaning anymore—before the High Mage once again touched her shoulder, this time to get her attention.

"Lady," he said, gently shaking her shoulder. "Lady, look ahead."

Li did not know what might have gotten the mage's attention, but she was sure that she didn't want to see it. After all that had happened, she was afraid it could only get worse.

Banter shook her shoulder with more purpose this time. "Look ahead."

"No," she insisted, but she lifted her head anyway.

At the same moment, the griffin's great lionlike paws landed firmly on solid ground, and Li found herself staring directly into the gaping mouth of a cave leading into the wall of rock that stretched out before them. She blinked, then cast a glance behind her.

Open air. A carpet of forest at least a mile below.

Startled, she yelped and grabbed the mage's robes as if to save herself from falling—although the griffin had perched ten feet away from the edge of the wide, level ledge on which they now were.

Banter swept an arm towards the darkened cave entrance. "We're here," he said simply. "We're on the sacred mountain of the Rune God."

* * *

The aircar settled gently on the ocean's surface and bobbed for a minute or two before slipping underneath, descending into the darkness, the silence of an underwater trench.

Mako watched air bubbles peel themselves off the aircar—although _submarine_ would probably be the better term now—and stream frantically upward, as if they were running in fear of what lay beneath the waves.

His stomach twisted uncomfortably.

He could see fish now, fish everywhere—little flashes of silver darting together, bright flares of color here and there, and now larger ones, some drab-looking, others beautifully ornate, and still others so weird and unearthly that they looked like underwater dragons.

He tried to steady his breathing, wondering _why_ his heart was racing.

And still the car sank lower. The light from the sun overhead was failing, but if he craned his neck he could see pinpricks of some other ghostly light below, maybe from some magical coral or the Cephirian equivalent of angler fish, although these pale dots did little to illuminate the floor of the trench… if they were anywhere _near_ the floor yet.

Mako closed his eyes for a moment and mentally tried to steel himself for whatever lay ahead.

All too soon, it seemed, Mokona had located a hole—no, not just a hole, a _tunnel_ in the nearby wall of the trench, and their little pink car was directed into it.

Mako had never been afraid of the dark, but the blackness, the complete and total darkness of this tunnel, was eerie enough to put a touch of nervousness in him. Eventually, though, the blackness gave way to gray, and the tunnel curved sharply upward.

The car surfaced in an underwater cavern, dimly lit by a series of large, fluorescent seashells attached to the roof of the cave, and by two torches that burst to life on either side of a great pair of stone doors the moment Mako stepped out of the car and onto the damp but solid ground.

Mokona gently tugged on Mako's pant leg, and the Knight nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he murmured to the guide, "we're here, aren't we?"

* * *

Keilin felt Cail lower her from the grasp of the spell, and she was gently set down on the plush, springy grass that spread before the castle of the Pillar.

The legends, Cail had mentioned, insisted that this castle had not been built by human hands, but had been formed by the Creator of the world as housing for its Pillar. This was easy enough to believe. The castle was shaped like an enormous cluster of crystals, all jutting skyward, although there were just as many of these structures rooting the castle deep into the ground. It was strangely beautiful.

_We're here,_ Keilin said, unnecessarily.

She sensed Cail's response: _Yes… we most certainly are. It is time. Let's go._

There were no doors or windows present on this magnificent, glittering palace. Keilin strode straight up to the crystalline wall nearest her and reached out her fingers to touch it.

As if the wall itself was conscious of just who was seeking entrance, it crackled with magic and shot a bolt of green lightning up her arm, and from there it spread over her whole body, relentlessly attempting to zap every square inch of her to dust.

This seemingly-simple defense reeked of such a powerful, intense magic that it would have killed anyone else. Keilin, however, was invincible, and she knew it.

_It doesn't seem like they're too eager to let us in,_ she said lightly.

Cail reflected her tone of voice. _If they will not offer us a door, we will have to make our own, won't we?_

_I suppose you're right,_ she answered. Her next two words were spoken by mouth:

"_DEVIL'S SCYTHE!_"

* * *

Hawk hastily scribbled calculations and continued tweaking wires on a number of little gadgets he had scattered before him.

He had been working at top speed for three straight hours while Princess Ciela knelt on her cushion somewhere behind him, forcing prayers out of herself, shouting them to the glass ceiling overhead as if trying to drown out all the tormented visions that must be crowding into her head.

Nervous sweat decorated Hawk's face as he desperately tried one thing after another. He was so close, it was just trial and error now, but that would take time, precious time he didn't have, he was _so very close—_

An unbelievably violent earthquake suddenly shook the castle.

Hawk's little mechanisms went skidding in all directions, his sheet of calculations flew through the air, and Hawk himself was thrown backwards, his legs flipping over his head—he landed flat on his back, his breath was beaten from him, pain exploded through his chest, he had surely cracked a rib—

The glass over the Pillar shattered, and shards as sharp as knives rained down—but Ciela had been tossed from her pillow and was lying, stunned, on her side some ten feet away—her eyes were wide in pains of her own, but she dragged herself to her knees on the polished marble floor within seconds, continuing her frenzied prayers with more energy than before—it was then that Hawk realized that this had been no earthquake, no earthquake could have done this, it was something much, much worse, and he was out of time—

Ignoring the vicious, burning pains stabbing at his chest, he crawled to the only gadget of his still withing reach and began channeling his own brands of magic into it, desperately trying anything, hoping against hope that he would not have to see the Pillar and the country he had come to love be destroyed.

* * *

As she and the High Mage walked further down the passageway carved into the mountain, Li felt the temperature of the air rise rapidly and steadily; within five minutes, her brow was slick with sweat, and beads of persperation were forming around Banter's hairline. Odd shadows had begun to dance on the walls, giving the nonliving stone the illusion of movement, flickering like…

The tunnel ended, and Li found herself in the heart of a volcano.

_Flames._

Fire leaped into the air, it erupted from everywhere around her, it climbed the walls and darted across her field of vision in all directions. As she and Banter progressed down a narrow strip of rocky path leading to an enormous pair of heavy, elaborately carved stone doors, little tongues of heat and light seemed to pierce her, bore straight through her… and oddly enough her very heart was warmed, comforted, soothed by these mystical flames.

_He is calling for me,_ Li thought, hardly aware of her voice relaying these words aloud. _The One of Fire is here._

Banter said something, but his voice was faint to her ears, and the words he spoke made no sense to her. He had stopped, but she continued walking, feeling as if her body had taken control of itself and she were a mere passenger along for the ride.

Those doors. They loomed in front of her now, massive and forbidding. They alone blocked her path to the sleeping god she sought.

_I am here,_ she announced in her heart, although the sounds tumbled from her lips as well. _Time flows unchecked, like the fire's blazing path. I must move forward._

And as if her words alone held the strength of a hundred men, the doors cracked open and tendrils of fire snaked through, wrapping around her waist, her chest, her legs and arms, and she let these carry her along to what lay beyond.

* * *

Mako felt as if he'd stepped not into an underwater cavern, but into an otherworldly palace. He cast one lasted awed look around at the ghostly sources of light on the ceiling, then swallowed his fears and drew close to the exquisite double doors. He raised his right hand and stretched out his fingers, but he did not touch the stone.

"Mokona," he said quietly, the pads of his fingertips just an inch from the doors. "I just wanted to say thank you… for being with us… for helping us."

Mokona gave two short _puu_s, one of puffed-up importance, the other a humble _you're welcome_.

Mako took a deep breath. "If anything happens in here like what happened to Keilin, you get your own rear out of here to safety, you hear me?"

Mokona protested, but Mako didn't pay heed. He reached just a bit further and planted his hand on the cold granite door.

Immediately it swung out to admit him, and water suddenly streamed ankle-high from the space between the doors—Mokona's startled cries were echoing faintly somewhere in the back of his mind, but he ignored the guide and pushed forward, sloshing through the flowing seawater. With his heart he reached out to the entity somewhere beyond him, even though the corresponding noise coming from his mouth seemed like just a jumble of sounds:

_Time flows unchecked, like the breaking of the waves. Rune God of the Water… I come._

* * *

Keilin and her master surveyed the wall before them.

"Wall," however, did not apply here anymore. Smoke rose from the perimeter of a jagged, fifty-square-foot hole, and the crystalline material that should have been there now blew away as powder in the wind.

_Well done,_ Cail said. _Although they will not have missed this._

Keilin did not seem worried. _What can they do?_

Cail laughed once, very softly, and they did not move or speak again until the first wave of the palace guards and mages apprehended them.

"You there!" barked the nearest, a large man with a well-crafted sword gripped tightly in both hands. He then shot a startled double take at Keilin, but quickly managed to regain his composure… mostly. "Girl! Stay where you are!" he said shortly, but there was a definite tremor in his voice now. "Just come with us, there's a lass, come and answer some questions—"

_Fear, uncertainty,_ Cail murmured, half to himself. _It drips from every one of them like sweat. Use this._

_They're handing us weapons,_ Keilin agreed, and as the squad of soldiers advanced, she threw out her hands and summoned a swarm of demonic, bloodthirsty bats, fueled by the wavering wills of the very ones they had come to destroy.

* * *

"It's close, Hawk," Ciela gasped suddenly.

The System Master's furious concentration snapped in half, and he looked at the princess, startled. "What's… close?" he asked.

Ciela sucked in a shuddering breath. "The plague of this world, Hawk Vision… it's not just close, it's _here_." Without another word, she plunged back into her prayers with renewed passion.

Hawk studied her for a second, then turned his gaze on the mechanism in his shaking hand, and for a few heartbeats he couldn't remember what he had been doing with it.

* * *

Li Kimoi felt fire caressing her, its touch gentle, with a sense of belonging… almost as if she'd been called home.

She would have stayed there, floating along the flames with her eyes closed until the end of time, quite happily—but when the voice spoke, her attention switched focus so quickly that it startled her out of this dreamy state.

_Young girl from another world._

Li's feet were set down upon the flames themselves, and she found she could stand as easily upon these as upon the ground itself. Her first glance of the Rune God of Fire, however, almost drove her to her knees.

_A lion?_ she wondered silently, and then, _No… wolf._

The Rune God was impossibly huge, a lupine creature with one horn between his blazing red eyes, crowned with flames that covered his neck, framed his face, ran down the belly and the back, and the plume of his tail trailed sparks as he held it aloft.

_Majestic_ did not do this creature justice, and it never would.

_My name,_ he said in a deep growl of a voice that went straight to Li's soul, _is Rayearth. I am the one you seek._

The girl could not find her voice.

"And my name," she choked out after a second, "is Li Kimoi. I am the Magic Knight of Fire."

* * *

_Rune God,_ Mako called with both heart and mouth, _hear me. I am here._

He progressed further into the seashell-lit Shrine, feeling for all the world as if he were _swimming,_ not wading, and that this water was the purest, cleanest thing he'd ever touched—and he was not swimming any longer, but just gliding as _it_ went through _him_, reaching into him… and rinsing every fear and concern away.

This unbelievably freeing sensation, though, was nothing compared with the deep, strong voice that answered him now.

_I hear your heart, young boy from another world. Look upon me._

With a start, Mako found himself to be standing on his own two feet. He cast his gaze forward.

A dragon lay comfortably before him, the same dark blue as twilight, the same sparkling sheen of the ocean, the same boundless expanse of the sky. Two scaled wings draped over its back, and at the joint of these sprouted a wicked-looking claw. Two relatively short horns stretched beyond its head, sharp fangs ran the length of its mouth, and the deepest, most intelligent eyes Mako had ever seen looked at him steadily.

_I am called Selece,_ the dragon said, and the sound of his voice made the boy's breath catch in his chest. _I am the Rune God of the Water._

Mako's voice shook, not from fear, but in complete and total awe: "M-Mako Keines… the Magic Knight of Water." An abrupt smile of wonder swept across his face, and all hesitation vanished. "I'm here."


	30. Strength of the Heart

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hooray! I love you guys! I'm so excited that we're getting into the real meat of the story now... these characters of mine have really grown on me, so it's great to finally share the rest of their story!**

**Ally-Kat722: **Aw, thanks. I actually think the chapter length is good right where it's at (I hate long chapters), so I hope you don't mind if I keep it this way. I'd like to read your fic sometime.

**Mintt:** PUU right back at ya!

**DayDreamer9:** I'm not telling! You'll have to wait!

* * *

Chapter thirty… _Strength of the Heart_

Li stared transfixed as Rayearth tossed his magnificent head, causing little tongues of fire to whirl around him.

_Young girl from across the void of space and time,_ the Rune God said directly to her heart, _you have sought me and you have found me, and now what would you do?_

An overwhelming sense of unworthiness arose in Li, but she stuffed it as deep inside herself as she could manage, and she forced herself to look Rayearth squarely in the face.

"I need your help," she said plainly. "The people of this world are suffering, and I want to stop it, but I can't do it alone. Please—I beg you with all I have—I need your help to save Cephiro."

Rayearth considered this for a moment. _You have a good heart, young one,_ he mused after a second, and his commendation made the girl blush. _Still, I wonder if goodness alone is enough to ease the pain of an entire world._

Li had the sense not to interrupt the Rune God when he paused, and after another second or two the great one continued: _Show me, young girl. Show me the strength of your heart. Prove to me that you are not simply capable of me but worthy of me._

The Fire Knight blinked at him. "You want me to—wait, I don't—but I—"

_Yes,_ Rayearth chided gently. _You know exactly what I mean. Go now._

The fire rose around Li once again and took her, exactly as it had before.

* * *

Selece, this glorious vision of strength and beauty, regarded Mako with soul-searching eyes.

_You desire something,_ he said thoughtfully. _I read it on your heart, young boy._

"I desire…" Mako trailed off, wondering how best to phrase his request. He settled for, "I desire you."

Selece cocked his head slightly, almost in amusement, but said nothing. Mako continued. "I want you to lend me your strength. There are so many people depending on me to save them from the despair and pain that has darkened this world—and all the hearts within." He took a deep breath. "There are people… people that I love… who will be hurt if I cannot bring hope back to Cephiro. And I need all the power that Water is willing to give if I am to restore that hope."

Still Selece did not speak, and Mako added one more word to his speech.

"Please."

When the Rune God did answer, his tone was meditative. _Your love for your friends is exceptionally strong, young one… but I fear it may not be enough… or that it may be your undoing._

Mako swallowed hard, but stood his ground and maintained eye contact with Selece, trying his hardest not to shake even slightly.

_This, then, is my decision,_ the Rune God announced after a short time. _You will display before me the true strength within you. Show me the strength of your heart, young boy who crosses between the worlds._

Mako felt the pressure of the phantom water again, but instead of moving him forward, it began pushing him backwards, out of the Shrine. In desperation, not wanting to leave this dragon's presence—ever—he threw out his arms. "Selece! Wait! _Selece!_"

The water he could not see still pressed him away from the Rune God, and the moment he was on the other side of the heavy stone doors, they slammed shut.

* * *

Li eventually felt the air under her boots turn to rocky ground, and almost as if she were waking from a deep sleep she found herself outside the Shrine's great doors.

A terrible sense of loss from being sent from Rayearth's presence pierced her heart. She tried for a moment to ignore it, and when that failed she tried to reassure herself that she would be seeing the Rune God shortly. This, too, did nothing to soothe her. On the verge of tears, she spun on her heel and darted forward, calling for High Mage Banter, because if anyone knew what she could do to get back to Rayearth, it was him.

Upon seeing the mage, though, the name caught in her throat, and she almost choked. Horror-struck, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared.

Banter knelt before her, his head down, one large hand bracing himself against the ground, the other grabbing at his neck—and Cirrus stood over him, holding the end of a glowing beam of light that twisted around his neck like a length of rope.

"High Mage," Li whispered, and then she yelled it: "_High Mage!_"

Cirrus let the energy rope slack just enough for Banter to choke in a breath. She placed her boot directly in the small of his back and drove him to all fours as he tried to lift his head.

Li drew her own whip from her glove, furious, but something felt radically different with it this time. She blinked, then glanced at her escudo weapon. She noticed the glaringly obvious difference immediately.

Since when had there been three lashes?

_It evolved,_ she realized. _When Mako helped me fight my fears. It's stronger._

"Little girl," came Cirrus' melodic voice. "A child, really. Like a child with a wooden sword who threatens imaginary monsters."

Li's attention shifted from her whip to her enemy in time to see the sorceress pull harder on the beam around Banter's neck.

Cirrus smiled. "I knew this would get your attention. After all, isn't this _so_ much like Eterna, little one?"

"Let him go," the girl snapped. She raised her whip and started forward, but Cirrus held up a hand and said shortly, "Stay where you are or he dies."

Seething with anger but not with pride, Li obeyed. The sorceress grinned slightly at this, and she released most of the tension on the glowing rope. Banter collapsed forward, gasping raggedly and coughing violently.

"How did you do this to him?" Li demanded softly.

"How?" the sorceress laughed. "How, indeed? My dear girl, I am simply much, much more powerful than he is."

"You lie," Li shot at her. Her grip on the whip's handle tightened.

Cirrus grinned. "No. You may not think so, after our last few… skirmishes… still, you are a Magic Knight, and he is nothing more than a magician. Compared to fighting the Knights, he is nothing." Her lip curled, as if she felt the need to spit at Banter, but she restrained herself. "I was _created_ to be his superior."

"You were what?" Li asked. "Who—?"

"Master Cail."

"_What?_"

"Stratus, too," Cirrus confirmed. "Our master made us for his service... because, after all…"

* * *

The sound of the giant doors slamming shut vibrated in Mako's chest, and the echoes that bounced around the room added a sense of finality that made any thoughts of trying to force his way back into the Shrine out of the question.

Mako sighed and laid his forehead against the cold, damp stone. The strength of his heart? What on earth was _that_ supposed to mean? He had no idea what Selece was looking for, and for all he knew he could be stuck down here forever trying to decipher the Rune God's less-than-direct answer to his request.

A prickling sensation at the back of his neck suddenly brought his attention to a small noise behind him, and almost before he realized he was doing it he'd drawn his quiver, crouched and spun around, all in one fluid motion.

The metal blade of Stratus' broadsword shrieked as it crashed against the stone doors exactly where Mako's head had been a split second earlier.

_Oh, for crying out loud,_ the Knight thought, _it never ends!_ He threw a knife, aiming for the swordsman's shoulder, but Stratus caught a glint of steel as it flew at him, and he swiped it from the air with his own enormously heavy blade. His mouth cracked into a malicious grin.

Mako backed up a few steps, waiting for the other man to charge at him—but Stratus did not advance.

"Fine then," the swordsman said evenly, "we'll settle this your way, and _then_ mine. As much as I desire to apply my skills with a sword to your neck"—and here his grin turned to a sneer that Mako did not like in the least—"I need you alive for just a little longer."

"Then why did you just try to slice my head off?" the Knight snapped at him, trying to sound a little more confident than he actually was.

"You are an idiot," Stratus said darkly. "The flat of the blade would not have 'sliced your head off'. Knocking you unconscious would make transportation easier."

"Transportation? What are you—"

"Cail has need of you."

"Cail?"

"My master still needs information you carry, boy."

Mako blinked at him. "What do you mean, _master?_"

* * *

Li felt her body grow slack; her whip slid out of her hand, but she hardly noticed.

"_That's a lie,_" she whispered, unable to stop herself from trembling. "_That's impossible._"

"Is it?" Cirrus asked quietly. "Is _this_ impossible?" She waved an arm at the entrance to the Shrine. "Is Cephiro impossible? Is _your_ world impossible?"

_Keilin,_ Li thought dazedly. _She chose despair… but I never realized it had come to this…_

Cirrus gave one short, mirthless laugh. "My dear Lady Knight"—and here she jerked up on the beam of light again; Banter's head snapped back, and he gasped fruitlessly for air—"you have already lost."

Li burst into tears as she retrieved her weapon and snapped it at the sorceress. "_Only the High Mage can call me that!_"

Cirrus put up her left arm and cried out as the three lashes bit into her skin. The beam of light in her right hand sizzled and died—Banter slumped forward and landed face-down on the ground, where he lay motionless.

Cirrus' staff appeared in her hand in a flash of purple light. "Take off your armor," she demanded sharply, valiantly ignoring the trio of gashes now dripping blood. "That glove, too, and the whip—throw it all in the fire, then come back and stand before me."

Li shook her head, tears flying from her face.

"Now," Cirrus growled, pointing the globe on the staff at the mage. "Or I make _sure_ he's dead."

* * *

Mako stared at the swordsman, feeling as if he'd been frozen in place.

Stratus wore the same smug grin he always did when he had the upper hand. "Well? You learn dear Keilin's predicament, and you just stand there?"

Mako could hear his own breath, short and shaky. No. This was all wrong. Stratus was obviously lying, just trying to catch him off guard, but it wasn't going to work, no way, no way Mako was going to fall for some dirty little trick like this.

But it was the truth.

There was nothing else it _could_ be.

Cirrus had hinted at this, he realized: _There was something we needed… we worked hard to get it…_

He had just assumed it was some sort of secret weapon. She had been referring to the Knight of Wind.

_And that means there's no hope for Keilin._

The thought made his breath catch in his chest.

_She's beyond rescue… and Li and I are going to have to destroy her. Oh, heavens, were we called to Cephiro to destroy her in the first place? No—that's insane—that's just insane—_

Stratus' rough voice drew him out of thought.

"Give my master the answer you refused him before, and he will send you and the Fire Knight safely back to your own world."

Mako stared at him, feeling goose bumps rise on his arms. "What did… you just say?"

The smug look reappeared on Stratus' face, and Mako cursed himself for showing interest, giving Cail's man yet another ace up his sleeve, but he could not look away as Stratus repeated himself: "Give Cail the answer he needs, and you and your friend will be sent back home without being harmed."

_Home._

Back to his own world, where he didn't have to worry about monsters, or the fate of Cephiro, or just making sure Mokona remembered to put the bathroom in the shelter—back to where life was comfortable, he could sleep as late as he wanted, he and Riuki could play some cards and he could make her laugh by playing something dumb on his harmonica—

—except what if she wasn't there anymore? What if she was _here_?

Then again, what if she _was_ back home?

"Well, boy?"

* * *

Li stood with hot tears streaming down her face, staring at the magic crackling around the end of the staff, knowing she couldn't do anything, knowing her magic would be ineffective, unwilling to risk another attack with her escudo whip… she could do nothing to save this great man.

Cephiro needed her… right? She couldn't sacrifice herself now.

But images rose in her mind… silent memories of the settlement below her being destroyed… the bodies lying strewn everywhere… the monsters, crazed and bent on wiping every last trace of the village from the face of Cephiro… and, again, she could do nothing.

This was just too much.

"I'll do it," she said softly. "On one condition."

_So help me,_ she thought, _I'm going to save someone before I die._

"You let the High Mage go free, and you don't harm him any further." She looked Cirrus in the eye. "Give me your word that he will leave this place alive and untouched, and you can do whatever you like with me."

The sorceress pressed her lips together, obviously smothering a crow of triumph. She set the wooden end of her staff on the ground and leaned against it slightly.

"Done," she said. "I will leave him be."

Li glanced at the mage one last time, then began fumbling to get her armor off.

_Mako,_ she said silently, _I'm sorry… thank you for showing me I'm not alone._

"Goodbye," Cirrus said simply, but relishing the very word.

* * *

"Well?"

That one word… how could one word carry such a weight?

He studied the ground as his mind raced. The temptation to go back to his own world and leave any responsibility he had here behind… sheer curiosity that held him back…

He cast his gaze up and saw Stratus watching him with that air of smugness.

The answer just hit him then, leaving him feeling exactly like he had a few months ago when he'd been hit in the face with a soccer ball during practice.

Stratus had the upper hand again, either way Mako chose.

To leave Cephiro would mean abandoning an entire world to the same fate Keilin had suffered. To stay for his own interests' sake was just as bad: Ciela had not called him here so she could cater to his needs; he had been called to cater to hers, and he had agreed to do so on his very first day here.

A third choice remained open, and Mako grabbed it and held on tightly.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly, scraping up whatever confidence he could find within himself. "I'm staying right where I am so I can keep my promise to the Pillar. I gave my word, and I'll do… I'll do all I can to keep it…" His voice shook slightly, betraying the reluctance with which these next words came: "I'll do _whatever it takes_." A deep breath steadied him. "I'm still a stranger here, but already I love Cephiro and its people. And I… want to bring peace."

Stratus chuckled darkly.

"You fool," he said, his voice low. "Everything you say is empty. You won't follow through; you are blinded by compassion. Let me put it to you straight, boy: not everything can be redeemed. You can't save them all. Sacrifices must be made." He paused, waiting for Mako to reply, but when the Knight remained silent, the swordsman grunted. "As I thought. You won't do _whatever it takes…_ because you aren't willing to sacrifice the traitor for the life of Cephiro."

Mako couldn't find his voice.

Stratus lifted his heavy broadsword. "Since you will not comply with Master Cail's wishes, I will end this ordeal for you. Goodbye, Water Knight."

* * *

Almost. He was almost there.

Hawk Vision wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his robes, concentrating on the little gadget clutched in his hand. He had it now, he was sure of it, he was on the right track, just needed to adjust the settings a little bit and boost the power with another touch of magic, he was so close, almost there…

"Princess! I think I've found it—"

_BAM!_ The giant oak doors behind him imploded with the force of a bomb, and great, jagged pieces of wood went flying—Hawk turned to scramble towards the Pillar, but a chunk of a door hit him squarely on the back of the head—he was thrown to the floor, his face taking the brunt of the fall—he felt the little machine slip out of his fingers and skid away—his head lolled to the other side, and he watched upside-down as a demon stepped into the room.

No… not a demon… but close enough…

Hawk's field of vision grew dark around the edges, and dull, throbbing pain beat him into unconsciousness.


	31. Reborn

**AUTHOR BEGS FOR FORGIVENESS: I'm really sorry about the long update! Like I said in another long-update apology in a different story, stupid responsibility keeps getting in the way! Please don't hit me!**

**AUTHOR BEGS FOR REVIEWS: I was startled by the significant lack of reviewage lately! If you don't want me to respond to the reviews, then by all means let me know… but I really wanna hear from you, especially 'cause chapter 31 is one of the chapters I'm most proud of.**

Chapter thirty-one… _Reborn_

Li's armor dropped to the rocky ground, and the Fire Knight stood before the servant of Cail, tears on her face, but refusing to be afraid.

Cirrus lifted her purple-globed staff, apparently having grown impatient, eager to settle the score once and for all.

"And now, Lady Knight… you die."

A bolt of magic shot out at Li, crackling, sounding as if it too wanted the Knight dead on the ground.

But something was happening… something terrifying, but wonderful, almost like a dream… something incredible.

Everything had frozen, like someone had hit the pause button on the world.

And then, the fire… the fire was here again, surrounding her until it was all she could see, drying her tears—though not because of the heat it generated, but because it was an agent of comfort.

_The strength of your heart, young girl… well displayed._

_Rayearth?_ Li asked in her heart. She searched for the Rune God in the flames enveloping her, but did not see him. She closed her eyes instead, picturing the wolf and addressing that image. _What do you mean? I chose to sacrifice myself! I gave up hope!_

_No, young girl who crosses between the worlds. You never abandoned hope,_ came Rayearth's impossibly vast, deep voice, resounding in her soul. _The very fact that you chose… this is the true strength you carry within yourself._

_What?_

_Your heart discerned the best course of action without any regard to self, and you did not remain steeped in indecision, but acted. Young girl… the strength of your heart is evident to me, and its purity calls me to you._

_Then you mean…_

_The time has come. Don me and revive the powers of Fire._

_Rayearth!_

Li's clothes melted away the moment her heart spoke the god's name, and the flames drew ever closer, wrapping around her body, coating her in their warmth—and yet this feeling was forgotten as Rayearth took his place inside her heart.

Her soul began to sing. There was no other way to describe it.

Her spirit was Fire, her heart the tongues of Flame.

"_Rayearth!_" she cried, aloud this time, and the curtain of fire surrounding her dropped.

A bolt of magic—the same one that had been about to kill her—hit her on the chest, but had no effect whatsoever.

* * *

Cirrus' eyes grew wide, and she staggered backward. 

"What—what in the—" She could not find words, could not relay her thoughts, just stared at this new creature. She had thought, when the fire rose around the Knight, that the girl was summoning one last feeble attempt to save herself, but no… the flames were gone as quickly as they had come, and now the Magic Knight of Fire stood before her—and something was radically different, something Cirrus could not put her finger on, but _something was horribly different about this girl_.

The armor on the ground had vanished, and the strange clothing exclusive to her own world was gone. Her off-white boots, previously running halfway up her thighs, had now dropped to ankle level, drawing attention to what she was wearing now: a pleated skirt that fell to her knees, the same shade of red as the firelight that danced on the cavern walls, and a top with a neckline that touched her throat, then crisscrossed over her chest and secured in the back, leaving her navel exposed, all in the various colors of a flame itself. Her arms were bare, but the same glove she had been wearing was still there, and an identical one fit snugly on her other hand as well. Large ruby-colored pads rested on her shoulders, and to these was attached a long, flowing, bloodred cape that billowed with the heat of the air. A small circlet, the same color as her boots, rested on her hair and dipped onto her forehead, set with one lone red gem.

No… the outfit was not what was scaring Cail's sorceress so much. _What, then?_

The girl's whip was in her right hand, still with three lashes, but these were tipped with gold now, and a golden handle, set with more deep red gems, could be seen underneath her fingers. Little tongues of fire ran up and down its entire length.

Yet even this was not the source of Cirrus' anxiety. It was… it was the otherworldly _presence_ that surrounded this girl. Somehow, she could sense that the girl was… _complete_.

The Magic Knight of Fire.

Oh, heavens, the Rune God of Fire had been revived. _This girl was a full-fledged Magic Knight._

And Cirrus knew she was finished.

* * *

_No,_ Mako thought, trying not to waver, _refusing_ to waver. _I'm not backing down on my promise. I will save this world, no matter the cost._

Stratus swung his sword as he rushed forward, using the extra momentum to gain speed and increase the force of the impact.

_I will. Anything it takes. I'll do it. I WILL._

Mako's eyes closed as he concentrated on that one thought, forcing himself to side with his words, making his heart's will match that of his mind.

_For the sake of this world, I'll do whatever the Pillar needs._

And suddenly, inexplicably, he believed it. Given the chance, he would follow through, do his duty, fulfill his purpose in this world.

He opened his eyes and saw nothing but steel, heard only the song of the blade as it cut through the air towards his face.

He would never be given that chance.

_Li—_

Involuntarily, his eyes closed again and he shrank back, his body instinctively trying to prolong its last split second of life.

The second passed.

Then another.

After a few more went by and he still had not been cloven in half, the Water Knight tentatively looked up.

Stratus was frozen in the height of the swing, the broadsword held still above his head, his heavy cape and long white hair suspended motionless in the air behind him. His mouth was open slightly, colorless lips pulled back in a snarl, and his eyes held no evidence that he realized what had happened to him. He remained perfectly immobile.

Mako's breath came back to him in short, ragged bursts, and in relief he staggered backwards, his hand behind him to brace himself against the damp rock of the cave wall.

Except that what his hand touched was not rock, but water—Mako lost his balance and fell backward, through a vertical wall of water that had not been there two seconds earlier. He struggled for a second, disoriented, but found his bearings soon after—and realized that the cave had vanished completely. Around him now, as far as the eye could see in any direction he looked, was water, pure, clean, fresh water that he could breathe as easily as air.

It felt so good to be submerged in this water again, to feel as if it were supporting him and his troubled soul, and when the voice of Selece came to his heart, he let his eyes fall shut and his body go limp, trusting this water to hold him as he gave his full attention to the Rune God.

_Young boy who crosses the void between the worlds._

_I am here._

Selece sounded pleased. _The strength of your heart is presented to me plainly. Your will is undeniably solid. You are undoubtedly the one I have been waiting for. _A pause, and then, _But something still makes your spirit uneasy?_

_I said I'd save this world,_ Mako said softly in his heart, knowing that Selece heard his every word. _And I will… but why does the cost have to be so high?_

_Your thoughts lie with she who sold herself to the shadows._

_I don't want to kill her! How is my will strong if I've resolved to kill someone?_

_Young one,_ Selece said, and his voice was not harsh. _It is a hard road to travel, but it is the choice itself that shows me your innate strength._

_I don't understand._

_Understanding the motive behind either choice the servant of Cail presented to you, finding the trap laid for your heart, and choosing the one path that has no reward in store for yourself. Your selflessness is the power behind your amazing will._

_I still don't want to kill Keilin._

_And this shows me the goodness, the compassion, that enables you to give so freely of yourself. Young boy, the time is at hand. Don me._

_What? Selece, I—_

But he cut himself off as he felt his clothes dissolve into the water around him.

Embarrassment gripped him for a second, even as the pure water around him condensed somehow as it embraced him closer than before—and then everything was pushed to the back of his mind, because Selece had entered his heart, and the sheer joy he felt coursed through his veins as though mingling with his blood, and suddenly he couldn't tell where Mako Keines stopped and Water began, it was all just running together, they were becoming a part of each other…

His feet hit the rocky floor of the cavern, and a great deal of water splashed onto the ground.

* * *

Stratus put his whole being into this stroke, eager to kill the poor, confused intruder from some other world and return to his master's side, showered in glory— 

His blade struck water.

Surprise flickered on his face only briefly. The Water Knight could not defend himself for long—

His broadsword was jerked from his hands by the blade and thrown to the far wall of the cavern—it hit the rock with a deafening clatter and sent echoes around the cave as it fell.

This time, the look of astonishment stayed on Stratus' face.

That sword weighed more than an ordinary man could lift. Yet he, Stratus, was inhumanly strong, could wield it with ease, had never lost control of it… _so how in Cephiro could it just be pulled from his grasp like that?_

He whirled back around to face the Water Knight, his massive hand curling into a fist and soaring for the boy's face—and a tendril of water snaked out and wrapped around his wrist, holding it motionless in front of him.

Stratus jerked, even more confused now than he had been. Unable to free himself, he glared up at the Knight—and froze.

The water pooled around the boy's feet rose in animated tendrils, waving slowly, menacingly, around his legs. The one holding Stratus' arm released it and shrank down to rejoin its fellows, giving the swordsman his first view of the true Magic Knight of Water.

His thick-soled boots had gone from off-white to a blue so deep it was almost black. With gold streaking up in an intricate pattern from the heel to the very top of either one, they loosely rose halfway up his calves, over the legs of his dark cobalt pants. He wore a sleeveless shirt made of the same material as those pants, sporting a high collar and a row of small, gold-capped buttons that ran down the his left side. On his right forearm was tied a cerulean strip of cloth adorned with the runic character for _water_. Fingerless gloves, the same blue-black color as his boots, stretched almost to his elbows, emblazoned with more golden patterns, and a black cape streaked with bright azure hung from two golden pads perched on his shoulders. On either side of his head, the scaled, fanlike ears of a dragon jutted out just behind his own, giving him a dangerous, beastlike appearance.

Mako Keines' bright blue eyes narrowed sharply, and Stratus felt his own iron demeanor beginning to falter.

How could this be? How could a mere _boy_ possess such powers?

The Magic Knight carried no quiver now, and apparently he did not need it. He held out one hand, and a knife appeared there in a glow of blue light, serrated now, lighter and easier to throw, judging from the way the Knight held it, but with more than enough killing power to do its job.

_How?_ The Magic Knight of Water could not exist without being backed by—

Stratus almost choked.

The Rune God. He could see the Rune God behind the confidence in the boy's eyes, could feel the very aura of Water coming from his skin.

For the first time in his life, Stratus backed away in fear.

The Water Knight advanced on _him_ now.

"Whether I follow through or not is none of your concern," Mako said darkly, "because you won't be around to see it."

The sound of his voice alone was enough to make Stratus begin quivering like a frightened child.

* * *

Keilin kicked a piece of debris out of her way and strode over to Princess Ciela, who was still plunging herself into frenzied prayer like a madwoman. She grabbed hold of the front of the Pillar's robes and pulled her to her feet, then slapped her hard across the face. 

Ciela gasped in pain; one hand remained clenched in a fist, the other touched the corner of her mouth lightly. Her fingertips came away dotted in the blood of the skin cut against her teeth.

Keilin cupped a hand under the princess' chin and forced her to meet her gaze.

"So you are the one who summoned me here," she said presently.

Ciela's striking blue eyes filled with tears as she searched Keilin's face. "It's true," she whispered hoarsely. "You really _did_ turn to darkness… I had prayed that I was incorrect…"

"Your prayers," Keilin said quietly, "will never be heard here again." She released Ciela's face and shoved her to the floor. "Your death will throw Cephiro into the worst state of chaos it has ever known, and without you backing the remaining two Magic Knights, the Rune Gods will be simple to defeat."

"How did your heart fall so far?" Ciela breathed shakily.

Keilin looked down at the princess at her feet—and saw the pity welling up amongst the tears in the Pillar's eyes.

Anger flared up inside her.

"The people of this land," she said harshly, trying to get the pity she didn't need out of those eyes, "those who survived the destruction of their homes—they are all going to die."

"You were going to be the Knight of Wind… just as _I_ was the Knight of Wind."

"Their blood is on your head."

"How did you turn from the lure of the Wind towards Darkness?"

"You can't save yourself, and you won't save them. Cephiro will die."

"Is it because of the pain you carry deep in your heart?"

"Your world will die!"

"You gave up the healing powers of Wind…"

"_Your world will DIE!_"

"…because you yourself cannot understand healing?"

Keilin gave a scream of rage, then drew her sword and swung it in a low arc at Ciela's heart.

And at that very moment, Hawk Vision's precious gadget, scooped up by the Pillar and clutched tightly in her hand, flashed brightly once, then shot a beam of white, concentrated light straight into Ciela's chest, knocking her flat onto the floor. The blade whistled harmlessly through empty air.

Keilin bristled. "What in the—"

Ciela moaned as she slowly staggered to her feet again, tottering a little as she stood unsupported.

"_Demon Wing!_" Keilin cried, directing her magic at the little machine clicking wildly on the ground. It exploded in another burst of light.

"It's too late," Ciela murmured wearily. "Hawk Vision did it, he finally did it…" She dropped to her knees, unable to keep herself upright.

The Knight of Darkness placed the flat of her blade on the Pillar's neck. "_What did he do?_" she demanded.

"He changed the System," Ciela said softly. "He finally did it, it's been upgraded, and I feel…"

"You feel _what_?"

"Like I've been reborn."

There was a very pregnant pause, and then Keilin jerked her weapon back and took another swing at Ciela.

The princess was ready for her this time.

A ball of white light shot from her hands, then split into four pieces, slammed Keilin into the far wall and held her there by her wrists and ankles.

The Knight gave a startled yelp, then cried out in pain.

Ciela sadly watched her struggle for another half a minute before the rest of the spell took effect, and Keilin was thrust under the surface of the sea of sleep and held there.


	32. Whatever the Cost

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, thanks for the reviews, everyone! I'm getting a warm fuzzy feeling! But I'm too lazy to respond to each one today, so just keep in mind that you are all AWESOME. I am glad everyone is enjoying my story as much as I am enjoying writing it.**

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Chapter thirty-two… _Whatever the Cost_

Li Kimoi advanced on the sorceress, her flame-coated whip at the ready.

Cirrus put up her staff, trying her hardest not to let her fear show in her face, hoping against hope that she wasn't shaking too badly. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

The Fire Knight stopped then, but only to study the purple globe and the polished shaft of wood it perched on. When she spoke next, it was to Cirrus, but her gaze remained on that staff.

"The very first time we saw you," she said evenly. "I remember. We'd hardly begun introductions when you tried to kill me with the very rod you hold now."

A brief flash of a memory rose in Cirrus' mind: the girl being held in midair, the life slowly being crushed out of her, the way she screamed and struggled—

Three flame-coated lashes snapped out of nowhere and snagged the wooden shaft.

"You won't be needing this anymore."

Fire cascaded down the whip, and Cirrus yelped as she dropped her staff. Li jerked the handle of her weapon; the staff smashed into the rocky ground, and the purple globe shattered. Magic sizzled around the shards as they scattered, but it was short-lived. Within seconds, fire had consumed the rest of the staff.

Cirrus stared at the charred remains, shaking violently. In desperation, she threw out her arms and screamed, "_Ice Blades Attack!_"

"_Flame Dagger!_" the Magic Knight countered, and fire blasted from her own arms, consuming the lances of ice Cirrus had summoned.

The sorceress backed up until she was pressing herself against a wall. This was not good, this wasn't good at all.

And here was the Magic Knight of Fire, standing in front of her again.

Against her will, Cirrus felt tears well up in her eyes—although, strangely, these salty drops held no fear, only humiliation, because she would never get the better of this girl. She wanted so badly to avenge the pride she'd lost to this—this _child_—a mere _child_, from a world without magic, who had bested one of the most powerful mages to set foot in Cephiro!

Her silent fury churned and blossomed as she fueled it with hatred, nursing it, for it was her only comfort now.

* * *

Li Kimoi watched the cornered sorceress, feeling a little sorry for her as the mage stewed in her anger. But then the Knight's gaze fell upon the High Mage, whose limp body still lay in a heap on the rocky ground, and the memory of what Cirrus had done to Mako in the Spring of Eterna rose in her mind, and all pity was washed away.

Cirrus was, after all, a product of the dark magic of Cail.

"_Garnet Sto—_" Li began, but she never finished; something was happening, something horrifying, and it captured her attention fully.

Cirrus, still raging silently and cursing under her breath, seemed to be unaware of the dark mist, reeking of despair, that was beginning to rise from the floor directly underneath her.

The Magic Knight watched, feeling inexplicably nauseous, as fingers of this shadow wrapped themselves around the mage's legs and continued up towards her waist.

_What in the world is this?_ she wondered. _Why is this… familiar?_

Cirrus's arms had been lost in the mist, and it was only now that she noticed just how submerged in it she was. The blinding anger left her face in a second as sheer, unbridled terror took its place.

Li suddenly felt a pang of sympathy, and she could not understand _why_.

The sorceress screamed, and the shadows rose past her chest to flow into her mouth and nose. The mage choked on it, kept screaming, choked again.

Li stared in horror, and in a flash of insight she recognized this darkness. She herself had almost succumbed to it just a few days ago, when it had appeared in her mind as a gaping black hole… and Mako's voice had given her strength to fight it.

It was here again, that hole… except that this time its only target was Cirrus, who had harbored anger and hate long enough to summon it now.

"_Help… me,_" the mage gasped, reaching out one shadow-coated arm as the mist surged over her head.

Li swallowed hard, valiantly fighting off a flood of tears, and she turned her back on Cirrus, trying to block out the woman's screams as she was consumed.

* * *

Stratus turned and ran, scrambling across the wet rock as he dove for his broadsword.

He fully expected a throwing knife or a jet of water-magic to hit him in the back, and even when he had reached his weapon without being attacked, he spun around and thrust the blade up defensively.

Mako Keines had not moved while the swordsman's back was turned. Now, though, he advanced in silence. The living tendrils of water splashed into still pools on the ground the moment the Knight stepped out of their midst.

Stratus frantically rushed forward to take a wild swing at him, hoping he could at least _hit_ him before being destroyed. The heavy sword sliced through the air with a low whistle as it headed for Mako's neck.

So quickly that it was all just a blur, the Knight had thrown his arms out and summoned a dragon made of living water with a cry of "_Leviathan Blade!_"

The magic struck the broadsword full force and jerked it backwards; the blow nearly pulled Stratus' arms from their sockets. With an almighty _crack_ that resounded through the cavern, the attack drilled through the steel of the blade, and Stratus' prized weapon hit the ground in pieces.

The servant of Cail knew then, as he surveyed in shock the glittering shards of metal that lay scattered at his feet, that he had lost.

Mako continued to approach him. "It's over," he said quietly. "Face it—you're done."

Stratus glowered at him. "I will not be finished by the likes of _you!_"

The Magic Knight put his hands out once more, ready to cast another spell. "You are a monster," he said, and a touch of compassion was in his voice—except that a touch was not enough. "I can sense it… fashioned by the powers of Darkness."

"The same Darkness that has already taken one of your number and shall soon envelop the land you fought in vain to protect," Stratus growled, and he spat on the ground at Mako's feet, as though that would ward off the Knight.

The boy did not acknowledge it. His face was strained, and the swordsman saw his bright blue eyes fill.

"I told you," Mako said. "Anything it takes… any sacrifice that must be made… and I'll do it, if it means the security of Cephiro."

This was more than Stratus could handle. The thought of being destroyed by this Knight was unbearable; he would not end like this.

In a fight, he would not win, especially not without his broadsword. He possessed no magic of his own.

But he _did_ still have his willpower, faltering though it was, and he applied it now to himself, all that was left in him, and as the Magic Knight realized what was happening, his eyes widened and finally overflowed—but he made no move to stop Stratus as the swordsman used the last of his energy to put an end to his own life.

* * *

Raw. Throat burning.

Pain, dull pain, every nerve in his body throbbing.

He could not move, felt his head loll to one side—and a hand cupped the side of his face and held it steady, a hand that seemed to be both flesh and flame at the same time.

The darkness receded just a little, and a blurry face swam into view.

A voice, faraway, unintelligible, but _present_.

The thumb on the hand absently stroked his cheek.

That voice again, singing his name: "_Banter… Banter…_"

His vision cleared slightly. The face was framed in short red hair.

"Li?" he croaked, almost unable to get even that one syllable out.

The girl's voice came to him plainly now, and he realized that she had not been singing, but crying. "Don't… don't speak just yet… relax… save your strength…"

She broke down; Banter felt her arms around his shoulders pull him closer to her, and she buried her face in his robe to muffle her violent sobbing.

With a start, the High Mage realized he was lying in her lap—a thought that normally would have sent him sitting upright immediately, but his strength was gone, and even if he _could_ have moved he wouldn't, because this girl was _grieving_, lost in a world of a misery so deep that she needed him to be her bridge back to hope.

He almost jumped again, though, when he saw her outfit and realized what that aura around her must be.

She tried to talk to him, to tell him what had happened, but her tears kept getting in the way, and she presently gave up and continued weeping into his robes as if she would never be able to stop.

A few minutes went by, and still Li did not slow down, so Banter almost missed the second voice the first time it spoke. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind.

_Mokona? Is that you?_

_Yes, High Mage. Selece has been revived, and the swordsman known as Stratus is dead. Is Li alright? Has she awoken Rayearth?_

_It seems that way._

_But is she alright?_

_No._

_Can you heal her?_

_This is an ailment my healing magic cannot cure._

Mokona was silent for a moment, then said, _I fear that Mako is having the same trouble, then._

_Even with the Rune Gods, they cannot do anything in this condition._

_High Mage, are you able to use transportation magic where you are?_

_Transportation? Where do you need me to go?_

_Not you. Can you adapt the spell to carry the Knight of Fire only?_

_Why in Cephiro would she need—_

_I will augment your powers with mine, if need be. Together, can we send her to where I am?_

_I don't—well—it would need quite a magic boost if the target were to be shifted from the caster to another person…_

_That can be arranged. She and the Knight of Water need each other now more than ever. It is time. For their sakes, we have to bring them together._

_Alright… I will try._

Without wasting any more time, Banter began to weave a silent spell, taking the loop of magic forming around him and replacing it over Li's body, and he felt Mokona, miles away, doing just the same thing.

* * *

Li felt Banter drop out of her grasp, and she looked up in surprise to see that the mage was gone.

"Banter…?"

The fire in the cavern was missing as well, and the ground on which she knelt was cold and wet. _What happened?_ She looked around, feeling empty and disoriented. _This isn't the volcano where I met Rayearth. Where am I?_

"Puu." Mokona's soft voice drew her attention across the unfamiliar room, where the guide was standing… next to Mako.

She didn't remember standing up. The strange cavern, Banter missing and Mako suddenly there in fully-evolved armor, even Mokona vanishing in a shaft of ruby-red light before her eyes—none of it registered as important, none at all, the only thing she could see was his face drawing nearer as she ran to him with her arms outstretched.

He caught her and held her tightly against himself, and for a moment they clung to each other, both unable to speak.

Li pulled back then, her eyes meeting his. "What happens now?" she managed.

"We go to the castle," Mako answered quietly.

"And Keilin?" Li whispered.

She felt Mako grow tense. He closed his eyes, and after a second pulled Li close again, one arm around her waist, the other on her shoulders, his hand on the back of her head. She felt him shaking slightly.

"Whatever the cost," he murmured, "we'll protect this world."

"I don't want to kill her," she said into his shoulder.

Mako did not let go of her, reassuring himself as much as he was Li. "Neither do I." His breath caught in his chest, and he choked back a sob: "Oh heavens, neither do I."


	33. Mashin

**AIYAA! (frantic bowing) I am SO VERY SORRY about the long update! Please, please don't hate me! I'll try not to get so bogged down with schedules again, but I can't make any promises! For now, please enjoy chapter 33 and let me know what you think!**

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Chapter thirty-three… _Mashin_

_Keilin?_

_Keilin…!_

No reply, only incoherent mumblings. Cail could not rouse his kindred spirit.

_KEILIN!_

How could the Pillar _do_ this to her? It should have been impossible. He and Keilin were superior even to Ciela in terms of magic ability. And yet… somehow, Ciela had managed to subdue her completely. _How?_

As if she could hear him, Cail shouted at the princess: _You can't take her from me! Keilin is mine!_

And then, before he even realized what he was saying: _And if you or your Magic Knights hurt her in any way, I'll make you wish you'd never been born in either world you've lived in._

_Hang in there, Kei,_ he added softly. _Just hold on. I will get you back.

* * *

_

Mokona appeared in the Shrine of Rayearth with a small _pop_.

The High Mage lay battered and exhausted in front of him, but when the guide poked his shoulder, he opened his eyes and gave a weary smile.

"I guess… it worked then?" he managed. "Will… they be… alright?"

"Puu," Mokona affirmed.

Banter let his head fall back onto the rocky ground. "Good… that's good… now if they can… just reach Ciela… reach her in time…"

Trailing off, his energy spent, the mage drifted into unconsciousness. Mokona took his large hand in two stubby paws and, with a soft _puu_ of agreement, began to work a curative spell, formed from his own brand of magic.

* * *

_Young ones._

The fathoms-deep voices of the Rune Gods caught the attention of their Knights. Mako's eyes opened, and what he saw made him let go of Li.

Not quite ready to leave this place and do what must be done, she protested, trying to move with him. He took a step out of her reach. "Look," he said, inclining his head to the left.

She did so, and Mako clearly heard her sharp intake of breath.

Rayearth and Selece, side-by-side, stood before them, slightly wavy and misty, as if they were mere illusions. Sparks that flew to the ceiling rose from the great fire-wolf, and shining droplets of water clinging to the dragon gleamed in their brief light.

Rayearth's voice resounded in the Knights' hearts: _The ones who cross the void between the worlds._

_They who bridge the gap of time and space,_ added Selece.

_Time and space?_ Mako wondered, but this thought was pushed to the back of his mind as the Rune God of Water continued: _The time has come. The stage has been set._

_The enemy of Cephiro is closer to you now more than ever before,_ Rayearth said in turn. _You are the last line of defense. You are the last hope this world has._

_There is no more time to spare,_ Selece added. _The Pillar awaits you… as does the Magic Knight of Darkness._

And suddenly, with no accompanying flashes of light or curtain of mist to hide the change, the wolf and the dragon were gone—and in their stead were two towering, living suits of armor, one spurting flame, the other still with a certain reptilian air.

Li drew a shaky breath as she looked upon the two transformed creatures. "It's them," she whispered, sounding even more awestruck than she had been. "These are… how they _should_ be… these are the _real_ Rune Gods."

"They're… um… robots," Mako said, half to himself, not fully understanding.

_We are the mashin,_ Rayearth clarified. _At the service of those who would save this world._

_We resided in your hearts,_ Selece said matter-of-factly. _Now come and reside in ours._

Mako felt his feet leave the rocky ground, and he jerked in surprise. What in the world—?

At his side, Li was also lifted into the air, but her face was serene as she kept her eyes fixed on Rayearth. She stretched out her arms and allowed the mashin's magic to sweep her inside of itself.

Mako turned back to Selece, then closed his eyes and did the same.

He felt himself pass through water again, and once on the other side he opened his eyes to something strange… but amazing.

He was standing in perfect darkness, and yet he could see clearly. He was nowhere, but he was _here_. He had fallen into an eternal black hole limbo void again, but this particular void was easing some of the anxiety in his soul.

The cavern floated back into view. Rayearth stood by his side, and somehow he could see Li inside of the Rune God as well.

She noticed Selece, then saw Mako, gave a sad smile, and waved slightly.

Mako returned the gesture. Then, to Selece, he said, "Alright… I think we're ready to go."

"Yeah," said Li to Rayearth, "let's… let's just get this over with."

_Then we will follow your movements from now on,_ the mashin told her.

_We give you ourselves to direct,_ Selece added. _Go on, Magic Knights… leave this place and fly north._

North… to the castle.

Ciela—and perhaps Riuki as well.

And soon, Keilin and Cail.

_Keilin… I am so sorry…_

"Here we go," Mako said aloud, and Li followed him out of the cavern.

* * *

The surface of the sea, flat, relatively calm, suddenly began to bubble ferociously—and then was ripped open as the two mashin exploded out from underneath.

Selece and Rayearth took to the air as if they belonged there, and deep in the heart of the Rune God of Fire, Li felt as if she too were soaring into the sky. This wonderful feeling brought a small smile to her mouth only briefly, paling in comparison to the pain of the task that lay before them.

"Are you alright?" Mako called over, and she nodded, noticing that he wasn't enjoying this unbelievable ride any more than she was.

_Will we ever smile again?_ she wondered. _How will we live with ourselves if—when—we go through with this?_

_Young girl,_ said Rayearth, and his voice was heard only in her soul. _Your heart grows heavy._

_Yes,_ Li replied silently. _I… it's just…_ _Keilin._

_I sense very deep sadness associated with her,_ Rayearth said, _what she carries and what you feel for her._

_She's my friend,_ Li murmured. _At least—she was—but I don't want to give up on her._

_You have not done so. Your feelings of friendship towards her have not wavered,_ Rayearth answered gently. _You are faithful to those you care about. And this is why the powers of Darkness fear people like you… you never give up on your friends._

Li wiped her eyes with her fingertips. _I don't know if I can do this._

_Yes, you do. You know perfectly well. You would not have sought me in the first place if you had any doubts about your resolve to save Cephiro._

_Rayearth… will Mako and I… will we ever go back to normal again?_

Rayearth's deep voice was contemplative. _You will never be the same again, young girl who travels between the worlds. But you will heal._ He repeated himself: _You will heal.

* * *

_

Hawk Vision groaned, then gingerly rubbed the back of his head as he carefully sat upright. What in Cephiro had happened?

His eyes trailed over the broken glass and pieces of the great oak doors that littered the marble floor, the scorch marks here and there, the scattered bits of paper and broken pieces of machinery lying in absolute chaos across the room. It all came back to him then.

_The princess!_ he thought, looking around frantically, ignoring the throbbing pain that exploded inside his skull. _Oh, please no, please say she isn't—_

There. He had found her. Princess Ciela was there, on her feet, pacing slowly, looking deep in thought… but not locked in prayer.

Hawk felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. She wasn't praying. _Why wasn't she praying?_ How long hadn't she been praying? How many monsters and demons had been spawned already? How many more were being summoned from the depths of fear even now?

"Ciela!" he blurted, scrambling to his feet and tripping over himself as he ran towards her.

The Pillar of Cephiro seemed to snap out of some deep concentration as she looked up at him, and her face lit up with an enormous smile, such an out-of-place expression of joy that it stopped Hawk where he was. She held her long, embroidered robes off the floor and ran to meet him halfway across the room.

"Hawk!" she cried, flinging her arms around him and embracing him tightly. "You did it! You did it, Hawk, it worked, it worked!"

"I—wait, what? What happened here?" Hawk asked dazedly, noticing for the first time how very like a child she was.

"The System has been upgraded," Ciela said, letting him go and searching his face excitedly.

For one split second, Hawk didn't understand.

Then it hit him, hit him _hard_, and he felt the air rush out of his lungs like he'd been punched in the stomach.

The Pillar System… _upgraded?_

He'd actually _succeeded?_

"Then… you're free?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

Ciela smiled broadly, her ocean-blue eyes sparkling. "Not from the duties of Pillar," she said, "but free from the constraints of constant prayer. As long as Cephiro and its people remain what I love most, as long as its happiness is my only happiness too… it will flourish. This land will mirror my heart, not my pleadings."

Two twin teardrops, born of joy and gratitude, spilled from those eyes. "Thank you, Hawk," she added, and she hugged him again. "Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure to serve you, Princess," Hawk said almost absently, feeling shocked, elated, and bursting with pride all at the same time. A large, disbelieving grin found its way onto his face, and suddenly he had a strange urge to tousle Ciela's hair.

He, Hawk Vision of Autozam, single-handedly changing the country of Cephiro?

Hawk was normally not an extremely boastful person, but for crying out loud, sometimes he was so awesome that he amazed even himself.

He kept grinning like an idiot until he noticed the Knight of Darkness bound to the wall Ciela had been pacing near, and the sight was enough to pull the dumbfounded smile off his face and replace it with simple shock.

"Princess?" he breathed. "What… what _happened_ here? That isn't…"

Sheeze, he hated to see the laughter go out of Ciela's eyes, but that was exactly what happened as she followed his gaze to where the Knight was chained.

"Yes… that _is_ Keilin," the Pillar confirmed, suddenly as somber and grave as she had been for most of her life. "Or perhaps _was_ would be a better word to use."

Hawk felt his stomach lurch. He had seen the Knight storm into the room, but on the brink of unconsciousness, the sight of her had hardly registered in his mind. _Now_, however, the image burned into his memory like a red-hot brand.

Her ebony boots rose a little higher than knee level with a ring of silver encircling the tops, leaving an inch of skin exposed between the silver bands and the hem of her black, pleated skirt. The top was of the same material as that skirt, loose but cinched around the waist by a thick silver cord, with a long, high neckline that bared most of her shoulders. The sleeves were likewise black, but these were sheer and full-length, flaring out as they reached her wrists. Her hands were adorned with silver, fingerless gloves that sported a jet-colored orb on the back. Two silver pads sat upon her shoulders, securing a heavy, midnight-black cape in place. Her wide cloth headband, once green and then black, had retained its latter color, but had been split; the bottom half fell behind her head, and between these pieces, on top of her honey-blonde hair, was a net of fine black threads with a silver bead at every intersection.

Hawk could barely recognize her.

Her head had lolled to the side, and it was plain to see that this living shadow was asleep, although her brows were furrowed, as if she were having a nightmare. The shackles of light on her wrists and ankles glowed a little more brightly as a soft moan escaped her pale lips.

"Did you do this?" Hawk asked Ciela, inclining his head towards Keilin.

"Did I restrain her?" Ciela asked. "Yes, I did. This will hold until the Magic Knights arrive. But did I change her into… into _this?_" She gave Hawk a disheartened smile. "No… that was the one called Cail… the Rune God Cail."

"The—the _what?_" Hawk spluttered, doing a double take at the Knight bound to the wall.

"You don't sense it?" Ciela murmured sadly, and her eyes closed as she lightly touched the fingers of her right hand to her heart. "You don't feel the second presence in her soul?"

"I… I just… it's… second _what?_"

"She is the true Magic Knight of Darkness, Hawk Vision… having revived the powers of the Rune God, she let him reside in her heart. He is there inside of her."

"That can't be possible," Hawk whispered, feeling as if his world had flipped upside-down.

The Pillar of Cephiro shook her head slowly, her face downcast. "Unfortunately," she said, her voice breaking, "not everything is impossible."

"So… so what happens now?" Hawk asked, unable to take his eyes off Keilin. "Now that she's… she's part of… a _Rune God_…"

Ciela took a moment to answer, and when she did, Hawk finally dropped his head into his hand, trying to stave off the hot tears in his eyes.

"I sense, Hawk Vision, that only two Knights will leave Cephiro."


	34. Soul

**Hi everyone! Time for another apology for the delay in updating! I just don't have the time I used to have... but I'm doing my best, I promise you. I feel like the story is really coming along, especially with what I've got in store just a few chapters down the road.**

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Chapter thirty-four… _Soul_

_Young ones,_ came the voice of Selece. _Look ahead._

Mako and Li did so, and for a moment they forgot to breathe—a sparkling mass of crystals jutting from the ground to the heavens lay just a little way before them, somehow giving the same sense of power and deity as the mashin themselves.

"Is this the castle?" Mako asked after a minute or two.

_It is,_ Rayearth confirmed. _Ciela resides within._

"It's… it's beautiful," Li said quietly. "But is it really a castle?"

_Yes,_ Selece said, with the smallest touch of amusement in his voice. _It was specifically designed for the Pillar of this world, to accommodate her every need._

They lapsed into silence, and presently Mako glanced over at Li. "Are you ready?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not."

"Neither am I," he replied. "Let's go."

* * *

They landed on the grass about ten yards away from the glittering palace. In a whirl of water and flame, the mashin vanished, leaving Mako and Li standing on the ground. 

Briefly, the Knight of Fire wondered how they were supposed to know where to go without Mokona leading them, but the Rune Gods spoke up the moment the Knights began to walk toward the gaping hole that had been punched into one of the crystalline walls.

_We are still with you. You carry us in your hearts. And we will lead you forward. Go quickly—there is no time to waste._

Mako glanced at Li, and she recognized the heavy sadness in his eyes. She was sure he could see the same thing in her face as well.

Eye contact was broken, and the Knights began to run, following the directions the mashin pressed on their hearts.

* * *

Ciela had returned to her quiet pacing, and Hawk had settled down onto a space of floor free of broken glass or pieces of the doors. In the System Master's hands were the remains of his little gadget, destroyed by Keilin after it had turned the Pillar System upside-down. He toyed with the bits of machinery absently. 

Such power. These blackened, ruined parts reeked of immensely strong magic—but, he thought grimly, it was magic that came at too high a cost.

What could compensate a person for the loss of their soul?

The pieces of the little machine clinked softly in his hand as he turned them over each other.

What could fill someone once they were a shell of the person they'd been before?

_Clink, clink._

Was Keilin even human anymore?

* * *

Ciela had been drifting slowly from one side of the room to the other for some time, her mind completely submerged in thought, when she sensed something beginning to tug at her heart. 

She stopped in her tracks, her attention suddenly riveted on this feeling.

Something… was coming.

She turned to stare at what used to be the doorway.

Something was coming _right now_.

Presently, she heard footsteps, hard and quick, gradually growing louder.

To the princess' right, Hawk Vision suddenly lifted his head, aware of the same sound. He got to his feet and crossed over to her, ready to protect her if a threat crossed the threshold.

Ciela did not move, did not look at him, just kept her gaze fixed forward.

Something…

Two figures appeared in the doorway, and as they stepped from the darkened shadow of the hall into the light, Ciela caught a glimpse of the most striking eyes she could ever remember seeing.

* * *

Mako held the Pillar's gaze, his chest heaving from the run. 

Beside him, Li studied Ciela as she caught her breath. "Mako," she whispered after a minute. "She looks just like you." She paused, giving Hawk a small nod of greeting, and then, "Family resemblance?"

Still looking the princess in the face, Mako took a few steps forward, leaving Li where she was.

Ciela gave him a small smile that somehow reflected sorrow in her eyes. "Do I address the Magic Knight of Water?" she asked softly in a voice Mako recognized so well.

He nodded once, and then, unable to help himself, asked, "Riuki…?"

The smile left Ciela's lips, and she studied him curiously, as if he had spoken the name of an ancient spell.

"There is someone you still seek?" she said simply.

"Y-yes," Mako managed, suddenly afraid… afraid of the possibility that he had been chasing the wind this entire time. "My… my sister. You."

Pity mingled with sorrow in those deep blue eyes. "I am sorry, Water Knight," Ciela answered quietly. "You must be mistaken."

Mako felt his mouth go dry. "No, you can't… you _have_ to… Riuki… _please_, Riuki."

The girl shook her head. "I am Princess Ciela of Cephiro," she said gently, "the Pillar of this world. I have no family here."

"No," Mako insisted, "you're not from Cephiro, are you? You came from Earth! You were summoned here as a Magic Knight, just like we were!"

He felt Li catch his arm. "Mako," the Fire Knight said quietly, "that was over eight hundred years ago." Then, directly into his ear, "I'm sorry, Mako, but she isn't your sister. Let's just… just find Keilin and… do what we came here for."

Mako pulled away from her, feeling himself begin to shake. This was wrong. This was all wrong. She was absolutely identical to Riuki, the _very same_. Her face, her voice… her eyes… how could she _not_ be her? How could she look exactly like her, but not _be_ her?

_Where was Riuki?_

Ciela broke the awkward silence that followed. "And you are the Magic Knight of Fire."

"I am," Li replied. She glanced at Mako sadly, then approached Ciela. "It's nice to finally meet you, Princess, but… um, if I may be so bold as to ask, what happened here?"

She gestured around the room, and with a start Mako noticed the debris covering the floor, the scorch marks on the marble, the broken glass crunching underfoot.

He'd been so focused on the girl who was—might have been—his sister, he hadn't seen anything else.

Ciela bowed her head. "See for yourself." She motioned towards the wall on their right, and the Knights suddenly became aware of the Knight of Darkness bound there—and all thoughts of his sister were pushed to the back of Mako's mind.

Li clapped her hands over her mouth, and Mako felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "So it's true, then," he said, feeling a little sick. "Stratus wasn't lying… Cail really _is_ a Rune God."

"Yes," Ciela whispered.

"And we're going to have to kill Keilin," Li said shakily.

A tear slid down Ciela's face. "Yes," she said again, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her red-and-gold robes.

Hawk Vision turned away. "I never thought this would happen," he muttered, his voice sounding a little rough. "I never thought hope could die so completely within someone."

"This," Ciela breathed, her face shining with multiple tear-trails now, "is the power of Darkness."

Hawk took a second to reply. "_Why…?_"

"For Cephiro," Li said quietly.

Both the System Master and Pillar turned to look at her, and she repeated her answer: "For Cephiro… the people."

Mako said nothing, just pulled an escudo knife into his hand.

_As I thought,_ Stratus' voice echoed in his mind. _You won't do whatever it takes… because you aren't willing to sacrifice the traitor for the life of Cephiro._

This world was in their hands.

The life of Cephiro.

The Fire Knight fell into step with him as he slowly walked to Keilin, and she placed her hand over his on the handle of the dirk.

She was trembling just as much as he was.

Keilin's face seemed strained, and she began to struggle slightly in her sleep. The bonds of light held fast.

Li swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry, Kei."

"I wish it didn't have to be like this," Mako said quietly.

Together, the two Knights pulled back the dagger and struck.

* * *

_Help me.

* * *

_

Mako gasped and yanked the dagger to the left as hard as he could; the knife clanked against the wall, fell out of their hands and skidded across the floor, coming to a stop against a splintered chunk of wood.

Li burst into tears. "_Mako!_"

"_She's still in there!_" he yelled, feeling his eyes overflow as well. "_Keilin's still in there! I heard her!_"

Li shook her head violently. "No, no, no, no, she's gone, she's too far gone, but now I can't—I'll never be able to—but she's _gone,_ Mako, there's nothing else we can do for her!"

"She's alive," Mako managed, "her spirit is still in there, she's alive and she needs our help!"

"_We can't do anything!_" Li screamed. "Don't you _get_ it, Mako? Please, please, don't make this harder than it has to be! There—is—_nothing_—we—can—do!"

"There's another way! There _has_ to be another way!"

"No! No, there is _no other way,_ Mako! This is just how it is!" Li sank to her knees, sobbing into her hands. "This is… just how it… how it is…"

"I heard it too, Mako," came Ciela's quiet voice.

As one, Hawk, Mako and Li raised their heads to stare at her.

Ciela was short, still childlike in appearance, but her eyes held a depth that only came with eight hundred years of supporting people's souls, and suddenly she had become the most prominent figure in the room. She held Mako's gaze and said it again: "I heard it too."

"Keilin… the _real_ Keilin… she's still in there," Mako forced out, feeling as though his throat had closed.

Ciela nodded her head, golden chains clinking gently, the emerald tiara glinting with the movement. "I did not see… I could not feel… the darkness has completely masked her heart, but she… she reached through it."

"Can we… is there any way… _can we get her back?_" Li whispered, slowly rising to her feet as she stared at the Pillar desperately.

Ciela's gaze fell to the floor as she pondered the question.

"There just might be a way," she murmured finally. "But the risks…"

"I don't care about the risks," Mako interrupted. "_What do we do?_"

Ciela met his gaze and held it steadily. "No, Water Knight," she said quietly. "You must hear me out. This is a task only for another Magic Knight… one other… and should that Knight fall short, their heart will also succumb to this living darkness. _Failure could result in the destruction of Cephiro._"

"I'll do it," Mako answered.

"No," Li said, grabbing his arm again. "Let me. If one of us becomes a Knight of Darkness too, there will only be one left to defend this world… and our chances are better with the strongest Knight still on Cephiro's side."

"Absolutely not," Mako replied, and Li's grasp grew a little tighter. "Mako, _please!_" she whispered. "Why won't you let me do this?"

"Because!" Mako blurted. "I don't…" He hesitated, then looked away… but his left hand came to rest on top of Li's. "I don't want to risk _you_."

The Fire Knight's breath caught in her throat. "Mako…"

Mako dropped his hand and pulled away, approaching Ciela slowly, purposefully.

"Tell me what I have to do, Princess."

"Water Knight," Ciela said quietly, "the price of redemption could very well mean the lives of everyone in Cephiro."

"I don't care," Mako muttered. "I won't let that happen. I'll bring her back, and we'll save Cephiro together… the _three_ of us."

Ciela took a deep breath, then nodded once, very deeply. "Alright."


	35. Belong

Chapter thirty-five… _Belong_

_This girl… this human girl._

_From the minute she arrived in Cephiro, I could feel how her sadness weighed her down, and I knew she was the one I'd been trying to find. My kindred spirit._

_The one who had the potential to become my Magic Knight of Darkness._

_The one who would don me._

_She fascinated me. I watched her every move, listened to every word… and soon I was captivated. I could not get away._

_In Eterna, after she'd passed the trial but was about to be driven mad… I had already decided not to intervene, because there was a chance—a slight chance, but a chance nonetheless—that she would become my Knight then and there._

_If that had happened, I would probably have won this war by now._

_But I just could not watch her in such anguish. Such sheer terror and pain._

_I intervened anyway, and she in turn became captivated by me._

_I intervened at the Temple of Windom for the very same reason, and when she left the others in her group to come with me…_

…_when she finally, finally became my Magic Knight…_

…_was that when I began to love her?

* * *

_

Mako stood exactly where Ciela had positioned him—facing Keilin, directly in front of her, perhaps five feet from where she was bound to the wall.

He heard the soft swish of the Pillar's robes as she stepped into position behind him, forming a straight line.

"You are going," she murmured quietly, "to be sent into the depths of Keilin's heart. You are going into her soul. And that is where _she_ will be."

Mako remained perfectly still, eyes locked on Keilin's face.

She was still in there somewhere…

Ciela continued. "Your duty is to rescue her from whatever is holding her… and to bring her back. _She wants to come back._"

She was still in there, still alive, reaching out… hoping for someone to come for her.

"But, Water Knight… if you cannot defeat whatever is waiting for you… _pull out._"

Absolutely not.

"It will consume your soul as well… and Cephiro will be in even worse danger."

Fat chance.

He was going to save her, and the three of them would save this world. Together. They'd all make it, they'd all pull through, they'd all fulfill their promise.

"Mako," said Li quietly.

He turned his head. She and Hawk stood side-by-side to his right, but she stepped in front of the mechanic and came just a little closer.

"I wanted to tell you once… but I was too afraid… maybe upset… oh, I don't know, but it's just that… well, just like last time… if you need anything, I'll be there." She gave a small smile as her eyes filled. "And don't do anything stupid."

Without realizing he was doing so, Mako lifted his right arm and reached for her.

Behind him, Ciela gave a cry in a language he did not know, and the feel of magic swelled around him, freezing him in place.

Keilin sucked in a sharp breath and cried out in her sleep as a bright line of light emerged from her chest and extended towards Ciela, going straight through Mako's body.

The Knight of Water felt a thousand different things all in one moment, and then all he knew was blackness.

* * *

Li recoiled. What _was_ this?

Mako had gone rigid, like a statue, but his head had lolled to the right and his eyes had fallen out of focus.

Ciela, on the other hand, had her head bowed and her eyes closed. Her mouth moved silently, but whether she was chanting a spell or praying out of habit was unclear.

Li's eyes trailed up and down the beam of light that was boring straight through Mako's chest. It was wide, perhaps four inches in diameter, and the brightest, purest white she had ever seen.

The light, whatever it was, was very pretty, but it made her uneasy.

She took a few steps forward, and Hawk Vision clamped a hand on her shoulder. "Don't," he said simply.

Li glared at him over her shoulder. "I don't like this," she said sharply. "I just want to make sure he's alright."

"Ciela knows what she's doing," the System Master said with quiet confidence. "You gotta trust her." Then, after a beat, "And you gotta trust Mako, too. He's not the kind of person who'll go down without a fight."

"Go down without a fight?" Li repeated incredulously. "You think he's in trouble or something?"

Hawk shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that he'll do his best… whether you're there or not."

Li didn't know whether or not to be offended by this, so she pressed her lips together tightly and turned back to face Mako.

_Go down without a fight…?_

Where was he right now?

* * *

Mako opened his eyes.

Nothing. Darkness. A probable black hole limbo void.

_This is what a soul looks like?_ he thought doubtfully.

As if on cue, a very small gasp sounded from behind him.

Mako tried to spin around, but his body did not obey him.

In this lightless place, he half expected to see nothing as he looked down at himself—but to his considerable surprise, he had as clear a view of his body as he'd had in the palace just a minute ago.

He also realized that he was floating. In nothing.

_This is just too weird,_ he thought.

The little intake of breath sounded again, and this time Mako focused on simply _willing_ himself to turn around.

His body responded to that will, and he found himself slowly turning until the source of the sound was in his field of vision.

It was Keilin, as he had expected—but it was not the Keilin he'd thought he would find here.

It was _Keilin_… stripped of all masks, veils, and disguises. It was she, herself, and no other.

Unlike her outer self, she was not dressed in black, nor was she wearing the armor, boots, or glove she had worn as a Magic Knight… only her plain green school uniform, unaltered in any way. She too was suspended in nothing, floating limply in the darkness. Her arms and legs dangled downwards, and her head was tipped back; she was asleep, just as she was back in the palace.

How long had it been…?

How long had her soul been chained like this?

Mako felt his heart grow heavy as he watched her. How was he supposed to do anything for her? _What_ could he do for her?

He willed himself closer. "Keilin?"

No response.

"Keilin, it's me… it's Mako. Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Mako stretched out his arm, and his hand cupped the side of her face. "Keilin…"

And at that very moment, something hit him hard across his own face. He fell back, clutching at it for a moment, then looked around wildly. "What in the…"

But he was alone, save for the sleeping girl in front of him.

Rubbing at his right cheek, which had taken the brunt of the unexpected blow, Mako did one last turn, still seeing no one else. _What on earth was that?_

He willed himself back towards Keilin and tentatively touched her face again.

Nothing happened for a brief moment, and then screaming filled his ears, bloodchilling screams of desperation and fear, so horrible that he thought he would rather be hit again than continue to listen. He drew his hand away from Keilin, and immediately the cries died.

Something else came to him then, a brief flash of a memory… Mokona brushing the side of Keilin's face, and the girl instinctively pulling away in fear…

_She grew up with this,_ Mako realized. _The blows, the screaming… oh, heavens, she grew up with all of this.

* * *

_

With Hawk Vision's hand still gripping her shoulder, Li stood still, watching Mako's face apprehensively.

She _hated_ this. She absolutely hated wondering about what was going on. She hated being worried sick.

Hawk seemed to sense her agitation. "You've gotta trust them," he repeated. "Ciela and Mako both. And," he added, "Keilin, too. You gotta trust that she'll do what she can to come back."

Immediately, Mako give a muffled yell, and his head thrashed for just a second.

Li gasped, one hand coming up to her mouth. "What was that?" she whispered. "It's like…"

"It's like he got hit," Hawk finished. "Yeah, I think he was. Look at the side of his face. It's turning red."

Li struggled to go forward, but Hawk said it again, firmly this time: "_Trust them, Li._"

Slowly, shakily, the Fire Knight nodded. "Yeah… okay."

Hawk's hand lifted from her shoulder, and she fell to her knees, as if unable to support herself.

_Please,_ she prayed silently, _let them be alright. Please.

* * *

_

"Keilin," Mako tried again. "Come on, listen to me. I'm here, I'm right here… but I don't know where _you_ are."

His hand reached for her face once more, and the moment he touched her skin, a voice resounded inside his head, furiously outpouring rage and pain, so loud, so harsh that he almost withdrew his hand, but he forced himself to keep it where it was, gritted his teeth and yelled over it all: "_Keilin! Where are you?_"

"I am here, Water Knight."

There was a metal _shing_ from behind him. He snatched his hand away from Keilin's face and will-turned around, the voice screaming in his mind fading the instant he did so.

There. Standing maybe ten feet away. The Magic Knight of Darkness, sword drawn, regarding him with an expression not unlike the one she'd worn in the Forest of Silence—pensive, yet challenging.

She spoke again, the faintest hint of a smile tugging briefly at one corner of her mouth: "I'm right here."

Mako glanced over his shoulder. The real Keilin was there, still as before.

He looked back at the Knight of Darkness. "You aren't Keilin."

"I am now," she replied. "She gave herself to me."

"That doesn't make you her," Mako said. "So you must be…"

The other gave a mock bow. "Keilin's own darkness manifest."

Mako indicated Keilin's sleeping form with a jerk of his head. "Why won't she wake?"

"The answer is nothing new," Darkness said casually. "Fear. Guilt. Anger. By now, she cannot let it go, thus giving me free reign of her very self." That tiny smirk pulled at her mouth again, and she added, "Her body, spirit, and soul are all mine, Water Knight."

"Hate to break it to you," Mako shot back, "but you can't own someone like that." He pulled an escudo knife into his hand, gripped the handle tightly, felt its reassuring weight. "Keilin is the only one who can be Keilin, period."

The Knight in front of him lost the delicate smirk playing with her mouth, and anger flashed in her eyes. "You cannot defeat me, Mako Keines."

"I am _going_ to take Keilin back with me," Mako shot back, "and I won't let you stop me."

Darkness flew at him with blinding speed, and Mako hardly had time to recoil before he felt cold steel bite his arm. He fell back, clutching at it, and looked up to see his own blood lining the blade the Knight held.

* * *

_Drip._

Li's head snapped up at the sound. Did she just hear…?

"What was that?" she asked aloud.

"What was what?" Hawk said. "I didn't hear—"

"Oh my word," Li breathed as her eyes fell on the tiny puddle of blood on the floor, and her gaze traveled upward to the open gash on Mako's right arm that hadn't been there a second ago.

Hawk followed her gaze and sucked in a breath. "It's begun," he said softly.

* * *

The Knight of Darkness smiled again. "Mako Keines… you really have no idea what you have gotten yourself into." She spread her arms and did a quick turn, indicating the void all around them. "All of this… it is all myself, all Keilin, all darkness. Here, in her empty soul, I am all-powerful. I could kill you before you draw your next breath."

Mako half expected her to do so as he straightened up again, still tightly holding his arm. But he was granted a next breath, and even one after that, before Darkness continued.

"Why are you here, Mako Keines?"

"Why do you _think_ I'm here?" Mako shot at her, but the Knight ignored this. She circled behind Keilin and draped her arms around the sleeping girl's shoulders, bringing her face to rest besides Keilin's.

"This girl is nothing to you," she went on. "Just weeks ago, a stranger. You barely knew her even when she left you. So _why_ are you here? Why do you put yourself at risk so willingly? Why do you put Cephiro's future on the line? For _her_?" She stroked Keilin's face lightly, and the girl winced in her sleep.

"Let her go," Mako demanded.

The Knight smiled at him, that infuriating smile again. "You are making the wrong assumption, Water Knight. Tell her to let _me_ go, if that is what you wish."

Mako's grip on the dirk's handle tightened in anger.

"Again I ask you," the Knight of Darkness said quietly, "why are you here?"

"The same reason I was called to Cephiro in the first place," Mako retorted. "To purge this world of darkness. Saving Keilin is the first step in saving the world."

"Pretty words, Mako Keines." The Knight trailed one finger from Keilin's temple to her lips. "But is that all they are?"

As if on cue, Keilin's eyes snapped open, and the girl straightened herself up with a gasp that sounded as if she had just surfaced in the ocean.

"_Keilin!_" Mako cried, starting forward—and Darkness was suddenly there, pressing her blade against his throat.

"Stay where you are," she said simply.

Keilin stood dazedly before them as if in a trance, one hand on her chest, breathing heavily, trying to choke back sobs and failing. She moaned, then sank to her knees, crying freely.

Mako opened his mouth to yell her name again, but another voice beat him to it: "Keilin."

She lifted her head as Cail appeared, walking steadily towards her with his arm outstretched.

"Keilin, _no!_" Mako blurted. "Over here, it's me, it's Mako—"

Giving no indication that she had heard him, Keilin took Cail's hand and allowed herself to be raised to her feet.

He embraced her tightly, and she cried into his shoulder. "Cail… what is _happening_ to me?"

"You are feeling the tensions of this world," Cail answered gently. "The struggles between Darkness and Light. Their continued war is weighing heavily on you."

Keilin's sobs racked her body. "All I wanted…" She couldn't continue past this, and Cail continued to hold her until she managed, "All I wanted was to _belong_ somewhere!"

"Keilin—" Mako began, but the Knight of Darkness pressed her sword just a little harder against his throat, and he fell silent for fear of the blade cutting into his windpipe.

"You _do_ belong," Cail murmured. "You belong with me."

_No,_ Mako thought, horrified, _no, Keilin, no—_

"_Keilin!_" he yelled aloud, and the movement caused skin to break along the blade.

* * *

"_Keilin!_"

Just the one word, the name alone. Mako said nothing else.

Li watched in horror as a thin line of blood appeared on his throat. "Mako… oh, please, no, _Mako!_"

She started forward, and exactly as before, Hawk grabbed hold of her shoulder. "Li—" he began, but the Fire Knight drew her whip from her glove and wheeled around, forcing the System Master to let go of her.

"I don't know what exactly is going on in there," she snapped, "but I know that he's in trouble, that they're both in trouble, and so help me I am not about to stand by and _let my friends be hurt!_"

"Ciela said it was a job for only one of you," Hawk countered. "You just have to—"

"Absolutely _not_," Li shot at him. "I'm going."

Daring the System Master to try and stop her with a sharp glare, she backed away, then turned and sidestepped into the beam of light connecting Keilin and Ciela through Mako.


	36. Redemption

**Author's notes: Hey all! Thank you for your patience; I've had some troubles getting certain document files transferred to my new computer, but trust me, this chapter will have been worth the wait.**

**Also, this chapter is dedicated to a very, very dear friend of mine. Presie, your face comes to mind when I hear the word "strength". Thank you for the hope I see in you; it encourages me.**

**

* * *

**

Chapter thirty-six… _Redemption_

The Knight of Darkness' eyes narrowed sharply. "I told you not to move," she shot at him. "Be still or this sword will cut through more than just skin."

One lone droplet of blood coursed down Mako's neck like a tear would fall from his eyes. He felt it slide underneath his collar and run itself out on his chest.

For the first time, he noticed just how tightly that metal was pressed against his throat, and immediately he felt scared. The Knight of Darkness was serious, dead serious, about Keilin, and she certainly wasn't lying about being all-powerful in a soul she had been given. She would not tolerate too much provocation before she made good on her word.

Over the Knight's shoulder, he watched silently as Keilin allowed herself to take comfort in the Rune God who had organized the deaths of at least a fourth of Cephiro's population, and his own words came floating back to his memory:

"_I'll kill him. I will kill Cail if I have to hunt for him the rest of my life. So help me, I'll take that devil down with me if I have to, I don't care, I will kill him the next time we meet._"

Mako clenched his hand into a fist at his side, so tightly that his nails pressed hard into his palm. Even now, knowing Cail's true identity, trapped inside a hopeless soul, his life at the mercy of despair itself, _he was going to find a way to get at the monster who had killed all those people._

For one split second, there was silence.

And suddenly, a burst of fire from somewhere to Mako's right—all four heads whipped around, startled—the Knight of Darkness yanked her sword from Mako's throat and leaped forward as the curtain of flames dropped to reveal Li Kimoi, Magic Knight of Fire, standing with her triple-lashed whip at the ready.

* * *

_Keilin stands dazed._

_She is having trouble processing everything that is happening all at once. She is somewhere dark, but familiar, and there are people, just a few other people—she doesn't know who they are, and her fuzzy mind doesn't have the energy to think about it—but the one thing she can register for certain is the arms that are holding her gently._

_A few times, she thinks she's heard her own name being called, but every time this happens, those arms tighten ever so slightly, drawing her unstable attention._

_"You belong with me."_

_How she's wanted to hear those words, the one phrase that could pierce her sorrow and bring light to her soul._

_"You belong… with me."_

_The voice seems to be prompting her, and slowly, she murmurs, "I belong with y—"_

_But before she can finish, there is a burst of light, a reddish-orange light that sends a wave of warmth over her, and her head snaps up._

_That light… is fire._

_The arms pull her close, almost with a sense of urgency, and those words are repeated again, but her gaze is fixed on the leaping flames… the most entrancing thing she's ever seen… and she cannot look away._

_The fire dies almost as quickly as it came, leaving in its stead someone who looks like they were born of the flames. Someone who still seems to radiate that comforting warmth. Someone… who is tugging at Keilin's heart in a way she cannot describe._

_Fire lifts her head, and in a voice that seems faraway but strong she cries, "Mako!"_

_Keilin feels a face draw so close to her own that they're nearly touching, and the clearer voice of Cail insists once more: "You belong with me, Keilin!"_

_Her lips part as she struggles to respond. After a moment, she manages, "Mako…?"_

_That name… is so familiar.

* * *

_

"Mako!" Li blurted, tripping over herself a little as she tried to learn to move by willpower. "Mako, are you alright?"

The Knight of Darkness stepped in front of her, poised to attack. "Stay back!"

Mako took a split second to focus his will on the dirk gripped in his hand, then threw it as hard as he could. The knife struck the Knight directly between her shoulderblades, and she yelped once, then fell to her knees.

Li managed to scramble over to Mako, her attention immediately going not to the Knight of Darkness but to the light cut on his throat. "Thank God—the bleeding's stopped already."

Mako touched it lightly. "How did you—"

A wordless cry from the Knight of Darkness cut him off, and both he and Li looked up to see silvery-gray threads of light protrude from the Knight's back and shoulders. Repulsed but fascinated, they watched as these threads plucked the knife from the Knight's body, broke it and cast the pieces aside, and began to mend the gash in the Knight's shoulders and clothing.

"Keilin?" Li asked. Mako shook his head. "This is her despair," he explained quietly. "This is what's been inside her soul this entire time."

As good as new, Darkness rose to her feet and whirled around on them, then raised her sword and rushed forward.

"_Garnet Storm!_" Li yelled, and immediately the Knight of Darkness crouched, crossed her arms and cried, "_Cloak of Shadows!_"

The whirl of fire broke over a grayish bubble shield, and Darkness rose unharmed—and barely a second later, she threw out her arms and yelled, "_Devil's Scythe!_"

Mako leaped forward and grabbed Li around the waist, taking her down with him as he fell—he shoved her underneath himself and tried not to scream as the attack grazed him—every nerve on his shoulders, his back, seemed to be on fire—he pushed himself to his knees, wincing, hoping the Knight of Darkness didn't have another counterattack ready.

"_Lap—Lapis Deluge!_" he managed, feeling the twin columns of water rise and fly forward.

Darkness leaped into the air and stayed there, hovering over the Magic Knights—and as the water attack changed its course to come directly at her, she summoned the bubble shield again.

Li stared at her in dismay. "Great—how are we supposed to hit her _now?_"

"We follow her," Mako said, and, ignoring the pain biting at his nerves, he willed himself to move again—except that instead of trying to imitate walking, he now focused on pulling himself upwards. Shakily at first, but quickly picking up speed, he rose.

* * *

Li stared at Mako as he simply floated upwards, feeling more than a little stunned at the ease with which he remained stationary high above her head with nothing to support him.

_Is this even possible?_ she wondered for a second, then shook her head briefly. _Of course it isn't possible—but how many other things that aren't possible have I seen since I arrived in Cephiro?_

She was just about to try lifting herself, too, when a quiet voice caught her attention.

"_There's a light._"

Li turned around—and found herself locked in eye contact with Keilin.

The blonde was still holding on to Cail, but her eyes were wide, frightened, and her gaze was almost blank. She didn't quite seem to know where she was.

"Keilin," the Rune God of Darkness implored quietly, "look at me."

"You leave her alone, you jerk!" Li snapped, pointing her whip at him.

Cail gave her a steely glare. "Who are _you_ to think you have any right to take her from me?"

"I'm one of her teammates," the Fire Knight retorted, and she thrust out her hands to attack—but Rayearth stirred in her soul and pressed on her heart:

_No, young one. Not here, not now. You cannot face him yet—not while he still influences Keilin Makawa's soul._

Li was suddenly aware of the sheer sense of power in Cail's gaze alone. She took a shaky breath, then forced her reluctant arms to drop.

Cail looked at her disdainfully; then, making it plain that he did not regard her as a threat, he turned his head back to Keilin, whose empty eyes were still fixed on Li.

"Look at me, Keilin." He cupped his hand under her chin and gently began to direct her face towards his own… and then, to Li's horror, he continued softer still, "I love you, Keilin—doesn't this matter to you? Keilin, I _love y—_"

"_Flame Dagger!_" Li cried, but she directed the fire that exploded from her arms straight up.

Keilin's head turned sharply out of Cail's hand, and her eyes seemed to focus on the flames.

"_There's a light_," she murmured. "_I see it. I see a light_."

* * *

Mako had to spend a few seconds figuring out how to stabilize himself, but once he'd gotten the hang of it, he kept himself aloft easily.

Darkness floated before him, her gaze hard and cold. "You kid yourself, boy. You have no chance in the world to defeat me."

"As if I haven't heard that one before," Mako said.

The Knight of Darkness produced her sword and flew at him. He dropped underneath her and spun around just in time to see her gathering what looked like silver electricity in her hands.

"_Leviathan Blade!_" he cried at the very same moment she yelled, "_Shadow Blast!_"

It was unbelievable just how fast that electric energy could explode—it hit his own attack before it had even left his body, and the water conducted the electricity into him. He jerked, momentarily losing control of himself and staggering backwards, and then fell like a stone.

The Knight of Darkness flew after him, her sword ready to plunge into his chest.

And from out of nowhere, a jet of fire streaked straight upwards, catching Darkness off-guard and blowing her backwards.

Mako finally caught himself, steadied himself. He drew a few shallow breaths, trying to ignore the pain that came every time his chest expanded, and looked down below him.

Had Li done that?

* * *

"Keilin," Li almost shouted, "can you hear me?"

Cail glared sharply at her. "Say another word and you die, Fire Knight," he growled. "She is _mine!_"

"Keilin doesn't belong to anybody but herself," Li countered angrily. Never in her life had she wanted to attack someone this badly, but Rayearth continued to whisper a gentle warning in her heart, and she forced herself to stay where she was.

"You," Cail said, his voice low, "are blind."

He turned Keilin's face towards his again and kissed her.

"Keilin!" Li cried, starting forward—and she felt the Rune God of Fire actually tug on her body a little, heard him insist, _Do not attack him!_

Keilin remained blank and unresponsive for a few seconds before blinking twice and seeming to realize where she was, what was happening.

Li yelled for her again even as Keilin lifted her arms and returned both Cail's embrace and his kiss.

* * *

Mako felt like he was about to drop out of the air again. This couldn't be happening. Ciela had said Keilin wanted to come back with them. _What was going on?_

He was so lost in shock at the scene below him that he didn't hear the Knight of Darkness coming for him—and then before he knew what was happening, he felt something snare his legs and his arms, and then his chest and his neck as well, he was being grabbed by those same bizarre silvery threads that had protruded from Darkness' skin, he couldn't move, they had him everywhere, he couldn't move at all, and now he was being lifted, but not by his own will—

He was spun around to face the Knight of Darkness, out of whose palms the threads came this time. Her mouth remained a flat line, but her eyes glittered with exhiliration.

"You see?" she said, except her voice was no longer Keilin's. As if she were made of clay, she began to shift, bend, be rearranged, even as she spoke: "Even your precious Pillar could not forsee this. Keilin has chosen, and she cannot turn back. You have failed, Water Knight. You have failed Keilin, you have failed Ciela, you have failed everyone." The transformation complete, a dark copy of Mako held the Magic Knight of Water motionless. "Your will is broken… and now you will die."

The threads jerked Mako up even higher and then flung him down, ready to crush him against the darkness below.

* * *

Li felt her mouth drop open slightly, and try as she might she could do nothing but stand and watch.

_What now?_ she wondered.

Almost as if in reply, her mind raced back to the sight of Keilin, the Knight of Darkness, bound by light to the wall and waiting to die. The feel of the knife she and Mako held together. The sound of their footsteps as they walked forward to plunge that blade deep in Keilin's heart.

_You promised you could save her,_ a voice murmured in her brain. _But you can't. You're going to have to kill her anyway._

"No," Li whispered aloud. "There's… there's got to be some other way…"

_This was the other way. No other choice. Attack them._

This voice, oddly familiar but so unrecognizable, seemed to sap the strength straight out of Li's body. The girl swayed once, then fell to her knees.

"She's my friend," she protested weakly. "I can't."

_You were so eager to do so beforehand._

"I wasn't _eager_."

_Attack._

"I… I can't, I can't hurt her."

_Then what good as a Knight are you?_

Li felt something cold brush her fingers, but it didn't register in her mind until the sensation had crawled up her arms. She looked down.

That dark mist again, the same that had almost taken her earlier, the same that had taken Cirrus, here, on her, slowly gaining a foothold.

And as she watched it, it began to boil and shift, folding, collapsing, solidifying…

…until a pair of arms were holding her own.

Legs, body, head now—and within seconds Li was staring into her own face.

A Knight of Darkness in her own likeness.

This new Darkness cupped Li's face in her hand and leaned in close, too close—Li tried to pull away, but the hand kept her where she was.

Darkness' voice was Li's own, but with a mature, husky quality the Fire Knight could not have imagined herself capable of. "Come with me."

"No," Li forced out, and Darkness leaned even closer, put her cheek on Li's, whispered directly into her ear: "_The Keilin you knew is dead. Mako Keines is dead. Cephiro is dying, begging for someone to release it from its suffering… come with me, and you will not be alone._"

* * *

Time seemed to slow as Mako felt Darkness plunge him to his death.

This was it? All of this, and he was just going to die here?

He'd found Keilin, but he hadn't freed her. He'd met Ciela, but he hadn't been able to keep his promise to her. He'd saved Li, had even developed feelings for her, and now he was abandoning her. The people of this world were going to die. Cephiro itself was on the brink of destruction. And Riuki…

He had promised to catch her… but now, who would be there to catch _him?_

_You've failed them all,_ he heard Darkness say directly to his heart.

Failed them all… well, his death would see to that.

But he wasn't dead yet, not quite yet, and he had no intention of just leaving this entire world to just fend for itself against the force of a Darkness that turned against the very heart that had spawned it.

_Ciela… help me… help me so I can help everyone else._

With everything he had, he screamed, "_CIELA!_"

* * *

Cail knew. The moment Keilin came back to him from the recesses of her tortured mind, the moment her lips responded to his, the moment her arms embraced him gently, the Rune God knew.

Keilin drew her head back and met his gaze with steady eyes, tears silently coursing down her face.

"I love you too," she whispered, "but Cail… oh, Cail, I'm sorry, I love you, but _I want to know the light._"

Cail stroked her hair. "Even after leaving the others to come with me? Even after donning me as your Rune God?" A pause, and then, "Even knowing that the darkness will give you a place to belong?"

Keilin nodded slowly, maintaining eye contact. "There's a light," she whispered. "All this time, I felt like I was going in circles… anger, bitterness, resenting myself, resenting everyone who's hurt me, resenting the world for finding happiness when I was so lost… lost in my pain, my hopelessness, my darkness. At first I didn't even realize there _was_ a light. Then I tried to live without it. Now I've tried to destroy it. But, Cail… that isn't what I want. I want to _know_ this light."

She looked away sharply then, her shoulders heaving slightly as she began to cry freely. "I want to know what it's like to live with purpose… to be a whole person… Cail, I want to know what it's like to be _healed!_"

* * *

A flash of green light.

Li wearily lifted her head. Had she just seen…?

Her eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open slightly. She was imagining things, she had to be… she had to be… right?

* * *

A flash of green light.

Mako had braced himself for the impact that would crush his body, but that light chased all thoughts of death from his mind. He looked up.

And he saw hope itself before him.

* * *

Cail tilted Keilin's face upwards and looked into her eyes once more, a sad smile on his lips. "This, then, is what you have decided?"

"Yes," she managed softly.

"I love you," he murmured, wiping a tear from her cheek with two fingers.

"I love you too," she whispered.

He pulled her close to himself one last time.

And then, without once looking back, Keilin slipped away and ran into the light that was shining from overhead.

* * *

Ciela, the source of that light, hung in midair, dressed not in royal palace robes, but in an outfit not unlike the one Keilin wore.

"_Cyclone Sword!_" she cried, and wind from nowhere surged to her side, solidifying somehow and settling into the shape of a broadsword twice her size. She swung it easily, and the solid wind absorbed the extra momentum, peeling off the makeshift weapon and flying at the intended target with deadly force.

* * *

Li felt a sudden strong wind blow her hair and clothing straight back, and Darkness began to scream in pain, clutching the Fire Knight's arms even tighter as she thrashed wildly.

Li's eyes watered involuntarily from the moving air, but she squinted, trying her hardest to keep Ciela in view even as she was jerked along with her counterpart… there was something else, she knew, something else that she wasn't quite comprehending…

Darkness cried out again, pushed her away, and vanished into the void below them, and immediately the wind died down. Li wiped her eyes and stared at Ciela again.

* * *

Mako had sensed himself less than two seconds away from impact when he felt this wall of air wash over him, severing the threads that plunged him into the void below. As he spun crazily in its slipstream, he heard screams of pain, one at first and then another, and just as he was beginning to get a little sick from vertigo, he tumbled into Li, knocking her over—but at least he stopped moving.

For a moment, he was too disoriented to stir, but the Fire Knight struggled to sit up and immediately began to untangle him from her blood-red cape. "Mako," she said urgently, "look, over there, something's happening."

Mako dragged himself up and looked where she was pointing.

Darkness was there, between them and Ciela—but Darkness didn't just resemble Mako anymore; he could see a figure of Li there as well, and now the two were losing distinction from each other—exactly like smoke, they shifted, billowed, and then swirled into one. Within seconds, Keilin's own darkness stood before them again.

"Come on, Ciela," Mako breathed. "Finish her off."

But Ciela did not move.

And three seconds later, the real Keilin ran into the scene, headed straight for the Knight of Darkness.

* * *

Her heart pounding, Keilin willed her legs to carry her as fast as she dared to go. She skidded to a stop in front of the Knight who now wore her face.

Darkness looked at her with extreme dislike. "You intend to try and reclaim yourself?"

"I don't want a part of this anymore," Keilin said, chest heaving.

Steely-eyed, Darkness quoted, "Familiarity, even if it's darkness, is a comfort."

"Partial comfort," Keilin corrected. She swallowed hard, then continued, "But light offers completion."

The Knight of Darkness confidently strode forward and reached out one arm to cup the side of Keilin's face.

Without warning, the girl felt her mind fill with screams of terror, memories of threats and insults crowding out everything else, the pain of fresh bruises rising, throbbing—

She screamed, long, hard, loud.

But her hands rose, grasped the Knight of Darkness' wrist, and pulled the hand off of her own face. Immediately, her mind cleared.

She had to kill her own demon, but she had no magic, no escudo weapon, couldn't even touch her counterpart without seriously damaging her own mind.

She mentally sent a quick plea for help to no one in particular—and it was at that moment that she realized she was holding Cail's dagger.

How it had gotten into her hands, she would never know, she didn't stop to think about it, she just lunged forward and thrust it deep into Darkness' chest, pushing it in all the way to the hilt, twisted it, then yanked it out and did it again, again, again—

The dagger exploded in a burst of white light that seemed to go straight through her, and she felt herself fall backwards into nothingness.

* * *

Standing in the glow of that bright white light, Ciela, dressed once more in her royal robes, studied the stunned girl lying sprawled on the ground, then closed her eyes. _She has done it._

_Yes,_ came the reply. _She chose. Keilin Makawa is free._

Ciela felt her eyes well with tears of happiness. _There is hope for Cephiro yet._ She reached forward and took hold of Keilin's hand, raising the girl to her feet.

Keilin took a moment to orient herself—and the second she realized who was standing before her, she clapped a hand over her mouth, then fell to her knees.

"P-Princess," she choked out. "I… I can't… Ciela, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"

"Keilin," Ciela said gently, touching her on the shoulder, but Keilin shook her head and continued, "I've hurt so many people, I've helped Cail kill so many people, I tried to kill _you_, Ciela, I am so sorry, please hear me out, _I am so sorry—_"

"Keilin," Ciela interrupted again. "There is nothing to apologize for."

The girl pressed her lips together, valiantly trying not to cry.

The Pillar lifted her to her feet again. "What is it you are looking for?" she asked. "What is that thing you have been chasing, fighting for? What are you willing to do anything to obtain?"

Keilin's voice broke as she answered: "I want—I want the light you have… I want to be able to help the people I've hurt."

Ciela smiled. "Welcome to the light, Keilin."

She stepped backwards and clasped her hands together as she had done for most of her life, and Windam rose from her soul, spreading his majestic emerald wings over her.

* * *

Keilin staggered backwards a few steps, wide-eyed, a small bubble of fear rising in her heart.

The Rune God's deep eyes regarded her knowingly, and he spoke in a gentle tone of voice: _There is no reason for apprehension. You are no longer in league with the enemy of this world, and above that, you have displayed before me the proper mindset and strength of heart to pursue me._

Keilin's fear vanished, and she stood transfixed before this great phoenix.

_You have said,_ Windam continued, _that you wish to know light, healing. Now I ask you something besides: do you desire my assistance?_

"Th-they're the same thing," Keilin whispered, almost unable to get the words out.

Windam seemed either pleased or amused by this response—perhaps a little of both—and he paused a moment before answering.

_You finally seek me… and now, you shall don me._


	37. Cailon

Chapter thirty-seven… _Cailon_

Before he even opened his eyes, Mako became aware of something poking into the small of his back. He groaned and rolled over, and the sensation moved to his leg.

"Mako!" A hand found its way into his. "Mako, are you awake?"

"No," he insisted, but the hand began to tug on his arm.

"You have to see this, Mako. Get up, get up!"

The memory of the events just prior to his blackout came back to him, and as the urgency of the voice began to toy with his curiosity, he opened his eyes and allowed himself to be guided to a sitting position.

He was back in the palace, sprawled on the floor among all the debris, and Li was the one who held his hand. She sat down on the piece of wooden debris he had been lying on, quickly inspecting his face, his eyes.

"Good—you look like you're alright, I think," she said. She pointed behind him with her free hand. "Over there."

Mako turned his head and found himself looking at the Magic Knight of Wind for the first time.

Keilin—she, herself, and no other—stood maybe three yards away from him, in conversation with Ciela and Hawk Vision. Aside from the color change from black and silver to a rich green and gold, her outfit was identical to the one she had worn as the Knight of Darkness. Her face shone with life, and Mako could have sworn he saw a tint of color in her pale skin.

Ciela noticed Mako's gaze, and she smiled at him.

For a moment, he was again stricken with the unbelievable similarity between her and his sister, but he forced himself not to think about it as he returned a grin.

Keilin's eyes soon followed the Pillar's, and the moment she saw Mako was awake, she came and dropped on her knees beside him.

"I am so sorry," she began, but Mako cut her off by embracing her fondly. "Welcome back, Keilin."

He felt her shaking ever so slightly, but her arms tightened around him. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

* * *

Hawk shook his head disbelievingly as he watched the Knights. "It almost seems too good to be true," he said, and a smile pulled one corner of his mouth up.

Ciela allowed herself a broader grin. "The call of light is irresistible," she answered. "Even in the depths of hopelessness, light will find the soul that needs to be healed."

"And that means we really have a shot at saving the world, huh?" Hawk said, folding his arms in a satisfied sort of way.

Ciela's smile sparkled up at him, and then, together, they watched Keilin as the new Knight of Wind was hugged again and again by the others.

Presently, the Pillar's eyes fell on Mako Keines's arms, and for a moment she felt herself become captivated by their movement—the tension, the release, the relaxation of the muscles—and something began to creep inside of her, the feeling that something was going straight over her head. Uncharacteristically, she found herself nearly overcome with the childish desire to join the Knights and insist on an embrace herself.

"Ciela?" Hawk's voice drew her attention, and she immediately regained her composure. "Yes, Hawk?"

The mechanic eyed her warily. "Are you alright? Tired at all?"

Ciela smiled graciously. "A little tired, I think. Don't worry about me, though. See to them."

Hawk's look softened. "_That's_ the princess I know. Always looking after everyone else." He patted her shoulder lightly. "Let me see if there's anything I can find for you guys to eat and drink. I'm sure it'd help."

Ciela nodded, and Hawk left her side.

Immediately, that same strange feeling washed over her again—there was something just… out of… reach…

Before she realized what she was doing, the Pillar began to take a few steps forward, intent on embracing the Knight of Water and discovering just what it was that was bothering her.

Mako was not watching her; he was too engaged in energetic conversation with the other two Knights. As she approached, Ciela watched him wiping at the grime and sweat on his face with his left hand and laughing at something one of the girls had just said.

_Isn't his right hand dominant?_ the princess wondered. _So why…_

She stopped where she was as her eyes fell on the Water Knight's right hand hanging at his side, entwined with the Fire Knight's left.

At that very moment, Keilin's body stiffened, and all laughter left her face. She spun around, looking at Ciela—no, not at Ciela, _past_ her—

Two strong arms wrapped around the Pillar's shoulders from behind and held fast.

"Cail," Keilin whispered.

And Ciela screamed as her mind began to overflow with the pain of the darkness of every soul in Cephiro again.

* * *

Hawk Vision had barely left the Pillar's chambers when a flash of ruby-red light from the hallway to the right caught his attention. He paused, torn for a moment between investigating or heading straight for the kitchens like he had promised, before choosing the former.

It couldn't be a monster in the hallway. The palace walls themselves were able to detect and prevent anything with malicious intentions from entering. But then again, Cail and Keilin had managed to breach this security measure. It was possible that all of the magical defense systems had been destroyed when they had forced entry, and if that was the case, then a monster could have found its way inside.

This was unlikely. But Hawk found himself reaching for the small blaster tucked inside his palace robes… just in case.

He rounded a corner—and something white and fluffy latched on to his face, shrieking wildly.

Hawk staggered backward for a moment, then sighed and peeled Mokona off his face. "Where have _you_ been? Y'know, I'm startin' to think you're more trouble than you're worth."

"I wouldn't say that," Banter's deep baritone replied. "He saved my life."

Hawk glanced up to see his old friend coming down the corridor, and he grinned. "High Mage Banter. You've gotten yourself into your fair share of trouble too, don't forget." He stepped forward and extended his hand.

"I gather that things here are considerably better than they were when I left," the mage said, taking his hand and shaking it warmly.

Hawk's smile grew. "Banter, you have no idea. Keilin's back, and she's staying with us and the other Knights."

A sparkle of hope rose in the mage's eyes. "How did this happen?"

"They went in and found her," Hawk answered. "I don't really know exactly what they did or how they did it, but the other two Knights went inside the darkness and found her and brought her back."

"Did they…?" Banter mused. After a second, he shook his head, and with a very slight smile he muttered, "So they had it in them to become Magic Knights after all."

* * *

Mako's hands clenched into fists at his side as Cail kept Ciela pulled tightly to himself.

Where Cail had come from, how he had gotten here, why he had not shown himself until now, none of this was going through the Water Knight's mind, only that the one responsible for the fear and suffering of an entire world was standing before him, plaguing the Pillar's mind with despair.

Even if Ciela was not Riuki, Mako felt a strange kinship with her, and a brotherly urge to protect her swelled in his heart. A dirk was in his hand before he even realized he had summoned one.

The Rune God, his arms clasped tightly across Ciela's breastbone, only smiled. "That won't solve things, Magic Knight."

"Let go of her," Mako demanded.

Cail studied him for a moment with something like a small smile on his face, but instead of replying, he moved his gaze to Keilin.

The new Knight of Wind met his eyes, and somehow, Mako was not surprised to see that her gaze did not waver.

"Please, Cail," she whispered, and her voice was nearly lost as a tortured wail escaped Ciela's lips.

"I cannot," Cail answered gently. "I had been slowly gaining access to the Pillar's mind long before the three of you came here. She sensed my presence in a series of recurring nightmares, and I was forced to progress slower than I would have liked. Now, however, with the people of Cephiro unable to reign in their fear and hopelessness, I am finally able to repress the Pillar's power completely." The sad smile flickered on his face again as he continued. "Even without you, Keilin, I am still able to bring all Cephiro under my control."

"Cail," Keilin tried again, "please, _no_—"

"I hope," the Rune God interjected softly, "that when this is all over, I will be able to hold you again."

Tears spilled silently down Keilin's face.

Cail almost began forward, perhaps to wipe them away, but he remained where he was. "You must understand… _this is why I am fighting now._ The powers the Pillar possesses will enable me to fully claim your heart again." The saddened smile grew. "Not your soul… _your heart._"

And before another word was spoken, he tipped his head back and closed his eyes, drawing energy to himself.

Ciela squirmed in his grasp, screaming in pain—and to his horror, Mako saw the skin along her right temple split, dripping a long line of blood onto her face.

Without thinking twice, he charged forward, knife in hand, ready to rip the princess out of Cail's arms and stab him in the face. But less than six inches away from them, he hit what felt like a solid wall—a grayish bubble shield had appeared around the Rune God and his hostage—and Mako fell backwards, needle-sharp pain searing his skin.

Ciela's wordless screaming, Keilin's repeated cries of "_No, no, no,_" even Li's shout of alarm were all blending in his ears. He hit the marble floor, and for a moment his vision swam—but Li grabbed his hand, helped him to his feet, and then clung to his arm as they watched Cail's form grow dark and expand—within seconds, the boy was gone, and an enormous jet-black serpent towered over them, holding Ciela tightly in its coils, its ragged yellow wings spread wide and its stormy eyes looking down its jagged snout at the Knights below.

Anger and the need to rescue the girl who so resembled his sister burned hotter than ever before in Mako's heart, and they quenched his fear completely. As Cail smashed through what was left of the roof and rose into the air, taking Ciela with him, Mako screamed to the Rune God in his own heart, "_Help me! Help me follow him! HELP ME TAKE HIM DOWN!_"

And Selece's answer came immediately: _Magic Knight of Water… call upon me by name._

* * *

_Call upon me by name,_ Rayearth called from the depths of Li's heart. _It is time for you to face the enemy of this world. Call my name, Magic Knight of Fire, and I shall lend you my power._

* * *

_Keilin!_

Windam's voice, once so cold and unrelenting, now rang through Keilin's heart as a source of strength and comfort.

_You carry the name and the powers of the Magic Knight of Wind at last. Now is the time to put those to the test. Call upon me by name, and I will fight alongside you as you sever your ties to Darkness once and for all._

* * *

With everything he had, Mako cried aloud, and he heard the two girls doing the same:

"_SELECE!_"

"_RAYEARTH!_"

"_WINDAM!_"

Rivers of water exploded from thin air all around Mako, swirling around him and solidifying, and within seconds he found himself nestled once more deep inside the heart of the mashin Selece.

To his left, Rayearth emerged from a massive column of fire, and to his right the mashin Windam made his first appearance from amid an iron-gray cyclone. He could see Li and Keilin deep inside, and their eyes found him in turn.

_Cailon has appeared in his true form,_ came the deep voice of Selece. _We must return him to dormancy. A Rune God without a true Knight by their side will eventually upset the balance of all that is Cephiro. We must face Cailon to prevent the otherwise inevitable onslaught of darkness that is soon to begin._

_A Rune God,_ Rayearth explained, _can never truly die. However, the combined powers of three against one will certainly be enough to seal the Rune God of Darkness—whose powers have grown dangerously out of even his own control—in an eternal state of suspended animation._

_While darkness can never be truly eradicated from a world, we can erase Cail's consciousness from it,_ Windam continued. _Cailon himself will cease to exist, although his essence will remain. It will be, however, stagnant for many years to come._

Mako looked over at Keilin. "Are you… are you going to be okay with this?"

The girl had been pressing both hands to her heart, crying openly, but at the sound of his voice, she dried her eyes and firmly lifted her head.

"We… made a promise… to Ciela," she answered, making a valiant effort to stem a fresh flow of tears. "We _promised_ Ciela that we'd save this world."

"And we're going to make good on our word," Li said, nodding at her. She raised her eyes to the ruined ceiling and shouted loudly, "Do you hear that? We're coming for you, and we're going to finish what we started!"

"Hang in there, Princess," Mako added softly.

Selece leaped into the air and took flight, and the others followed; one by one they soared into the heavens, streaking after Cail and the Pillar he held.


	38. You'd Catch Me

Chapter thirty-eight… _You'd Catch Me_

_Crash._

The tray and pitcher fell out of Hawk's hands and smashed on the marble floor, adding even more broken glass and a considerable amount of water to the debris already strewn there.

"Dear heaven," Banter murmured, staring at what remained of the Pillar's prayer chamber.

A distant peal of thunder directed their attention upwards, where they had an unobstructed view of the sky, swaddled in gray clouds. Even as they watched, a web of lightning cracked open the heavens above the palace.

"What _is_ it?" Hawk Vision asked, and Banter answered grimly, "It is a storm." Then, half to himself, the mage added, "And we have not had one for over eight hundred years."

"He's got her," Hawk said, shaking in anger, still staring straight up. "Cail's got the Pillar. He's going to kill her—if he hasn't already."

"Ciela is still alive." The High Mage's face had lost some of its color, and his broad shoulders had grown tense. "We will know immediately if she dies. Chaos will explode throughout Cephiro. The fact that the storm has not begun yet is a sign that she is still keeping the world in check… though just barely."

"What good is she alive to him?" Hawk wondered aloud.

"Bait," Banter replied. "Perhaps a hostage, although I would think the former is more likely. He wants to use her to draw the Knights and the other Rune Gods within his range of attack. He will probably kill her when he has the upper hand in the fight to keep the Magic Knights from retaliating. He will have no trouble finishing them off if this happens."

"How do you know the Magic Knights have gone after him so suddenly?" Hawk asked worriedly, finally tearing his eyes away from the forbidding sky to look at the mage.

Banter met his gaze. "Because this is what they were summoned to do."

There were a few moments of silence, and then Mokona shrieked in surprise, startling the two men with him. He leaped into the High Mage's arms, _puu_-ing insistantly.

Banter stared at him in disbelief. "You have a message from _whom?_"

* * *

Ciela felt as though her body and mind were being ripped to pieces.

The emotional pain carried by everything alive in the country far below her was too much for her heart, and to prevent her very soul from succumbing to it, she had been forced to allow it to be translated to physical pain. Her nerves were searing, and numerous cuts were beginning to split open all over her body. She felt her own blood run on her skin, soaking into her embroidered robes.

"Stop—stop," she heard her own voice choke out, almost drowned by the roar of the wind as Cailon soared into the iron-gray heavens. "Please, make it stop—"

_You,_ the Rune God answered, _are my key to Cephiro._

The pain was quickly becoming unbearable, and it only increased in intensity. The Pillar felt her soul beginning to unravel, almost as if it were a tangible thing, and white spots danced before her streaming eyes—she tried to plead aloud again, but choked, and blood from her lungs speckled her mouth.

Her mind desperately tried to formulate a prayer, but she could hardly structure a sentence, much less put forth the heartfelt effort the prayer required.

Ciela was dying. She could feel it now. With her body unable to sustain itself, she would be dead in a matter of minutes, and it was only a matter of time after that until darkness surged out of control to consume the country she loved above all else.

Her only hope lay at least half a mile below her, pursuing her relentlessly but still too far behind. Mako and the others would not reach her until it was too late.

_…Mako…?_

This was it. The answer. There was still a chance.

Ciela closed her eyes and wordlessly summoned the last of her strength, screaming as her very skin began to feel as though it had caught fire.

Cailon sensed it. _Even if you fall, Pillar of Cephiro,_ he said, _you will still die. You will not be able to save yourself from the force of impact. Your powers are too weak._

The effort of speaking caused more blood to splatter on her face, but the princess somehow managed to force out what might be her last words: "He… promised… to catch… me."

Her body enveloped in a bright white light, she wrenched herself from the Rune God's grasp, and then fell limp as she gave herself to gravity.

* * *

Mako soared forward with everything he had in him, crying out wordlessly as he pushed himself on, knowing that Cail had too much of a head start and that he, Mako, would not be able to reach him before Ciela was dead, but he was going to _try,_ he was going to do everything in his power to reclaim her—

"MAKO!" Li cried. "Mako, look, he dropped her!"

His heart swooped inside his chest as he saw a shooting star falling from the thick black coils—no, not a shooting star, its light was flickering, fading into a body—it was Ciela, and her scarlet robes fluttered like wings as she plummeted—

All of the thoughts and feelings swirling inside Mako's mind focused themselves into one, and his heart repeated it over and over: _I have to catch her, I have to catch her_—he was faintly aware of these words spilling out from his lips as he raised his right hand, and Selece's enormous right arm was lifted in perfect sync—Mako strained forward—almost, he was almost there—

The Pillar of Cephiro tumbled into Selece's outstretched hand.

He had her.

_He had her!_

Mako felt tears well in his eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. Then he turned to the other girls and yelled, "Go after Cail! I want to make sure Ciela's alright!"

The other Knights nodded and continued their ascent, but Selece and Mako remained hovering where they were.

_Please,_ Mako thought, _let me go to her._

And immediately he felt Selece transfer him from deep within his heart to the palm of his hand where the Pillar lay perfectly still.

An icy chill clamped around his heart as he knelt down and scooped her unresponsive body into his arms. Was she dead already? "Ciela, please, say something—"

The princess looked terrible. She was covered in her own blood, and any exposed skin Mako could see was red and shiny, as though it had been burned or rubbed raw. Her head lolled from side to side as he shifted her weight, trying to see if her eyes were even open.

They were. The bright blue eyes that so matched his had lost their normal lively sparkle, but they slowly focused on him.

"Ma… ko," she managed hoarsely.

"I'm here," Mako answered. Warm, glorious relief washed over him head to toe. "Thank God you're alive, you're going to be just fine, just save your strength and—"

"You… kept… your promise," the princess whispered.

Mako fell silent and stared at her, puzzled.

Ciela continued. "If… I… fell…"

The Water Knight felt all the air leave his lungs in a rush. "_I'd catch you,_" he finished dazedly. Then—"_Riuki?_"

The Pillar's glassy eyes slowly drifted shut, and Mako quickly put two fingers to her neck.

A pulse. She had only fallen unconscious.

His hand came away slick with her blood, and he stared from it to the princess.

_How was this possible?_

* * *

"Keilin! He's got her! Go, go _go!_" Li cried. "We can't lose Cail now! This is our best chance to finish him!"

Keilin's gaze was fixed straight up as they continued to soar into the sky. "We're not going to lose him."

"Wait—are we gaining on him?" Li asked, staring at the enormous black serpent ahead of them. Sure enough, the Rune God did seem to be closer.

"We're not." Keilin's voice was grim. "He's letting us catch up. I think he wants to try and take care of us before Mako can get here."

"When will that be, though?" Li asked, worried. "Mako's not going to be able to do anything until he can make sure Ciela's safe. If he has to go all the way back down to the castle…"

"He's not going to be here for a while," Keilin finished.

Li took a deep breath. "Keilin… you know Cail's going to start messing with your mind again. Are you… going to be okay?"

Keilin kept her gaze forward. She was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry," Li murmured. "This has to be so hard for you."

"No one ever said being a Magic Knight was going to be easy."

"No… I meant…"

"You meant trying to kill someone I love?"

The uncharacteristic curtness to Keilin's voice did not leave room for a reply. Li waited silently as the Knight of Wind blinked back a tear.

"I never… I never felt like I belonged anywhere," Keilin murmured finally. "I never had any real friends before. No one ever gave me a second glance. And then…" Her voice cracked, and that lone tear spilled over onto her face despite her efforts to restrain it. "Six years ago, my mother died. My father withdrew… he started drinking… he would come home drunk, and he would get angry…"

"Oh, Keilin," Li whispered.

"I learned how to hide the bruises," Keilin managed, determinedly looking away from the Fire Knight. "And I started staying away from home every day until it was very late. No one ever knew. Then again, I had no friends at school, so no one would have found out anyway. Then I was summoned to Cephiro." She tossed her head back and stared straight up at the Rune God above them, little by little growing in size as they neared him. "And he began to speak to me. Someone who knew me. Someone who not only _knew_ me, but wanted to get to know me even more. He said we were alike… kindred spirits… and when… when Windam recognized my despair, and I began to become the Magic Knight of Darkness… Cail protected me. 'You belong with me,' he said. And now I'm trying to kill him." She shook her head, dropping her gaze again. "It just doesn't seem right."

"But it _is_ right," Li managed, her own eyes welling. "We're saving the people of this world from the same fate you almost suffered. Death in the darkness."

"But _why?_" Keilin cried. "Why do I have to save a people I don't even know from this darkness? Why me? Why him?"

"…I don't… I don't really know," Li said softly. "We're here for a reason, Keilin. Maybe that purpose was to bring the three of us together—you and me and Mako."

Keilin finally met her eyes, and Li continued. "You have to know that I care about you, Keilin. We've been through so much together in such a short time. You are and always will be my friend."

"Li…"

The Fire Knight smiled. "Come on, Kei. We have a world to save."

"Yeah," Keilin answered, surprised to find herself with a small smile as well. "Yeah."

Together, the two Magic Knights continued to soar upwards to the Rune God of Darkness waiting above them.

* * *

Mako continued to cradle the Pillar in his arms, his mind racing. Who _was_ this girl? If she wasn't his sister, why did she seem to have a memory of Riuki's?

And now that he had her, what was he going to do with her?

"Selece," Mako said, looking the mashin in the face, "can I take her inside you with me?"

_You cannot,_ the Rune God replied. _My heart can only carry the Knight who shares it. No one else, not even the Pillar of Cephiro, can enter._

Mako sighed. "The only other thing I can think of is to take her back down to the castle, but that's going to take some time. I'm so far behind the others already." He gave Ciela a very gentle embrace. "You're going to be alright, princess." Then, to Selece, he added, "We're going to have to go as fast as we can, alright?"

_That will not be necessary,_ the Rune God answered. _I have contacted the one known as Mokona, and he has relayed a message for assistance._

"Assistance?" Mako repeated. "Assistance from whom?"

The loud, grinding hum of an engine answered his question. Mako looked below him to see an enormous airship rising towards them. _It can't be,_ he thought.

The ship drew level with them, and Mako clearly saw _NSX_ emblazoned on its sides. The door to the cargo bay opened, and Hawk Vision, again in his bright orange jumpsuit, leaned out as far as he dared.

"Alright!" he called, yelling to be heard over the roar of the engines and the air as it was beat past them. "Banter's gonna come get Princess Ciela! Just get her a little closer!"

The Rune God stretched his arm a little further and flattened his hand, his fingers just touching the cargo bay where Hawk stood. The System Master made a motioning gesture with his arm, and High Mage Banter appeared in the doorway.

"Keep her right there!" he called to Mako, and when Mako nodded to show he understood, Banter stepped onto Selece's palm and very carefully swept Ciela into his strong arms.

"I wish you the best of luck," he said over his shoulder. "My world is riding on your shoulders, Magic Knight."

"I'm not going to let you down," Mako answered. "I'm not going to let any of you down."

The mage's red robes fluttered wildly in the moving air, and his black hair moved in sync as he turned his head back towards the _NSX._ "Yes, Mako. I know you will come through for us."

He swept back into the ship, and Hawk Vision popped through the door one more time to flash Mako the thumbs-up before it was closed. Almost as quickly as it had come, the _NSX_ was gone, and Mako found himself staring after it for a moment.

_I know you will come through for us._

He swallowed hard, then stood and allowed Selece to take him inside his heart again. There was precious little time left.

It was time to face the Rune God of Darkness head on.


	39. Endgame

Chapter thirty-nine… _Endgame_

Cail had completely lost sight of the Magic Knight of Water, and even though he could still sense the presence of both Mako Keines and Selece, they were too far below now to be a threat. He had lost Ciela, but at least she had gained him some time.

The Rune God of Darkness slowed his ascent to a crawl, and then he stopped completely, turning around to wait for the two other Magic Knights who were following close behind.

Li Kimoi, Magic Knight of Fire, inside the heart of the Rune God Rayearth. She had a will strong enough to free herself from the fears inside her heart which had almost swallowed her. She alone would have provided a decent challenge for him, but coupled with the others, she would be an even more formidable opponent.

Keilin Makawa, the new Magic Knight of Wind, now hidden inside the heart of the Rune God Windam rather than his own. Her beauty was only outshined by her fierce determination to reach her dreams at all costs. And although she had declared light to be that dream, Cail could still sense the deep desire in her heart for a person and a purpose to which she could belong.

He loved her. He needed her as much as she needed him.

They were each other's destiny, and even if he had to destroy all of Cephiro instead of simply overrunning it and driving the other Rune Gods into suspended animation in order to win her back, he would be with her again.

The silence of the atmosphere slowly melted into the rush of the air as Rayearth and Windam shot upwards and finally drew level with him.

The Knight of Fire immediately drew out her whip, and Rayearth, perfectly in sync with her motions, drew another exactly like it.

Keilin's countenance was sad, but she too unsheathed her weapon, and the mashin Windam did likewise.

To answer, Cail pulled his ragged, sulphurous wings around his black-scaled body, and he drew energy from the fear and desperate hopelessness which saturated the land far below them. The people's homes and families had been torn apart, and now their entire world was on the brink of destruction. Even without a Magic Knight by his side, the utter desolation rising in the hearts of the inhabitants of the nearly ruined Cephiro would be more than enough to sustain the Rune God of Darkness.

Once again, Cail used this energy to reshape his body, appendages protruding and taking form, the skin hardening. In just a matter of seconds, Cailon the serpent had vanished, transformed into a mashin.

He stretched his right hand to the heavens, and an enormous, heavy sword formed in his grasp, its hilt as black as night, its blade sharp on either side.

The battle had begun.

* * *

_Windam, help me,_ Keilin found herself pleading. _Help me do what needs to be done._

_Do not fear, young girl,_ came the Rune God's reply. _If you allow yourself to be afraid, you have already lost._

_Then help me stand by my decision._

Windam seemed pleased by her request. _You have a very generous heart, young one,_ he said. _You are willing to put aside what you desire in order to bring about good for others. Hold fast to that._

_Even when that desire is love?_ Keilin asked.

_You,_ came the Rune God's answer, _are not a slave to the way you feel. You returned to the call of light, but you must continue to make that choice. This will not be an easy battle for you, and even if we succeed and erase Cail's consciousness from the darkness of this world, you will still have to continue to choose light every day for a very long time to come. Healing and completion will come, young one, but it will be an uphill battle. You must fight—fight with all your heart, all your soul. You must give it your all, even when you feel as though you cannot take another step forward. Remember, though, that this light is worth every ounce of the strength you give it._

_Not a slave to the way I feel,_ Keilin repeated to herself. _Fight. Fight to stay in the light where I belong._

_You belong with me,_ came a memory's voice, and for a moment she could feel Cail's strong arms holding her closely.

No. No. She would not turn around now.

"No!" she cried aloud. "I belong right where I am!"

* * *

_Come on,_ Mako thought, straining himself as he added his own will to Selece's already breakneck speed. _Faster. I have to get there faster._

He had lost sight completely of Rayearth and Windam, but through Selece, he could sense that they were still somewhere directly above him.

_Faster._

Cail was strong. Even without a Magic Knight of his own, his powers were still augmented even more than Mako cared to imagine due to the despair of Cephiro feeding them. It would take all three Magic Knights if they had any hope of defeating him. Mako had to reach the battle as soon as possible.

_Faster!_

* * *

_Keilin._ Cail's voice was still soft, but it resounded through the silence of the skies. _Before we begin, I want you to know that I will not hesitate to destroy the mashin in which you currently reside._

Li saw the Knight of Wind press her lips together, determined not to respond.

"Don't listen to him," the Fire Knight whispered. "Keilin, don't listen."

_And if that happens,_ Cail said, _you will have one of three choices. You can fall to your death. You can be caught and held by Rayearth, which will impair Li Kimoi's ability to fight, thus sentencing her to death as well. Or you can return to me._ There was a short pause, and then he added, _I will protect you. I will be by your side forever. But first I will fight for you, and I will fight you if need be. Remember what I told you, Keilin… I love you._

And with that, he flew forward, so quickly he was hardly visible—Keilin barely had time to duck out of the way before Cail reappeared exactly where Windam had been just a split second ago, sword outstretched.

"_Garnet Storm!_" Li cried, and from Rayearth's hands exploded twin columns of fire, searing the air as it flew towards the Rune God of Darkness.

Cail raised his left hand, surrounding himself in a dark gray bubble shield. Li's attack bounced off harmlessly, and she dodged it as it rebounded towards her.

Keilin took the opportunity to fly forward, sword in hand. Cail sensed her movement, and he whirled around, raising his own sword. The two blades met with a clash that resounded through the gray skies, and their owners struggled against one another, pushing the weapons forward.

Li snapped her whip. The lashes wrapped around the base of the blade of Cail's sword. She tugged as hard as she could manage, and Keilin, her own sword now free, swung her blade forward.

Almost too quickly to see, Cail let go of his weapon, dropped a few feet below them, raised his arms and let fly a wave of dark energy, as black as eternity, straight up.

Li heard Keilin screaming, and for a moment she didn't realize that she herself was screaming as well. The attack felt like electricity bombarding her from every angle, crackling and biting at her skin, making her vision swim. She felt her weapon go slack as Cail's sword slid out of its grasp.

It was over within a few seconds, but it seemed like a few minutes at the very least. Li found herself able to move again, but every movement she made caused residual pain to burn dully all across her body.

Keilin was breathing heavily. Her jaw set, she pulled back and cried, "_Angel Wing!_"

A wild gust of wind rose to her call, and white feathers appeared within as it streaked towards Cail. He raised the shield again, and the attack slammed into it—

—and Li distinctly heard him grunt from the effort needed to keep the shield up.

"_Garnet Storm!_" she cried again, and this time she allowed her attack to merge with Keilin's.

The two together seemed to explode as they crashed against the dark gray bubble, and the light given off by the impact was so great that both girls had to look away for a split second—but Cail had lost control of the shield, and it vanished.

Li reacted first, wrapping the lashes of her whip around his right arm, which held the double-edged sword, and Keilin soared past her, ready to strike.

Cail's left arm came up with unimaginable speed and caught Windam just above the Rune God's chest; there was a sickening _crunch_, almost like metal on metal, and Windam was knocked back. To her horror, Li saw Keilin clutching at her own throat, choking.

Cail took advantage of the Fire Knight's distraction; he jerked his right arm down, and the whip was yanked out of her grasp. She dove for it, and Cail flung a sphere of energy after her—it hit her squarely—she screamed as the pressure around her increased sharply, feeling as if it were about to crush her at any moment—

But her hand closed around the handle of her escudo weapon. She flipped herself around and swung it blindly.

The lashes grazed the side of Cail's mashin body, and he fell backwards just a little.

"_Ja… Jade…_" Keilin's face was strained as she drew a breath and tried again. "_Jade M-Monsoon!_"

A cyclone sprang to life and shot forward, but Cail had regained his balance already, and he countered the attack with a wave of energy shaped like a hand; it wrapped around Windam and began to squeeze.

Small dents appeared in Windam's form as the energy condensed around it, and in exactly the same places, indentations appeared on Keilin's body, as though an invisible hand were crushing her as well—

Li flew forward and rammed her shoulder into Cail's side. They fell together; again, Cail caught himself quickly, and before Li had oriented herself, Cail grabbed Rayearth's arm and flung both Rune God and Magic Knight into the open air.

Li could not regain her balance. As she struggled against inertia, the pain from the previous attacks returned, gnawing at her, making her movements sluggish.

_He's… he's too strong,_ she thought, her eyes watering, half in pain and half in terror. _We aren't going to make it, we aren't even going to last until Mako shows up!_

* * *

Keilin, still gasping somewhat as she tried to breathe, watched Li fly almost out of sight. _No!_ she thought desperately. _Li! Come on, you can make it, come back!_

From the corner of her eye, she saw Cail approaching. Slowly, she turned to face him.

_Light is frail, Keilin. Candles flicker. The sun sets. All flames die eventually._ The ebony-colored mashin extended his free hand towards her. _Yours is no different. It will fail you._

"No," Keilin whispered, and then, making her chest ache with the effort, she yelled, "No!"

Cail stayed still for a moment, and then he lowered his arm. _I do not want to hurt you any further._

"Please," Keilin managed, "just… just stop."

_I cannot._

Cail lunged, his sword swinging forward in a wide arc. Keilin raised hers to meet it almost a second too late; his blade caught hers at an odd angle, and her arms were forced downwards.

She allowed herself to drop, and then she made a quick circle around him, giving herself a second or two to get out of reach.

"_Angel Wing!_" she cried again, but Cail dodged it easily and came at her once more with his sword.

Keilin backflipped in the air, dove underneath him, and rose on the other side, once again out of his reach.

He was still for a moment, and although as a mashin his face was unreadable, Keilin felt sure his gaze carried sadness.

Whatever the case, he did not waste any more time with words; after that brief pause, he lifted both hands and shot a blast of energy straight at her, an attack that was coming at her much faster than the others had, growing in intensity as it flew—

—there was the now familiar sound of two mashin colliding, and Keilin felt Li's arms push her out of the way. She looked up to see the Fire Knight, still inside Rayearth and yet close enough to touch, just miss being hit by that lethal blast herself.

"You made it," Keilin breathed, relieved.

Li nodded, but there was no smile on her face. She looked frightened. "Any sign of Mako yet?"

"Not yet," Keilin answered, and then, "Look out!"

Li whirled around and snapped her whip; it grabbed Cail's arm and tugged him slightly off-course as he flew at them again.

Keilin swerved to meet him, this time taking the offensive, but his reflexes were too quick; he blocked her, dodged Li, and rose higher.

"Take the bottom! I'll take top!" the Fire Knight cried, and Keilin nodded; she stayed where she was as Li shot straight up, hovering now above Cail.

"_Garnet Storm!_" she cried, and at the same time, Keilin yelled, "_Jade Monsoon!_"

Cail's timing was unbelievable—he waited so long to raise the bubble shield that Keilin's heart had already risen in hope of a good hit, and because of this, neither Magic Knight had time to dodge their own attacks as they were rebounded.

* * *

Li screamed in pain.

She felt as if every nerve in her body had been twisted. Her own magic on top of her previous wounds was agonizing. Through her hazy mind ran one thought:

_Is this it?_

Below her, she saw Cail cast off the shield and prepare yet another assault of dark energy.

_After all this, we're going to die?_

She closed her eyes. If death was coming, she didn't want to see it.

_We couldn't save Cephiro after all._

"_LAPIS DELUGE!_"

A sound like a waterfall made her wrench her eyes open just in time to see Cail take a direct hit from two columns of water-magic.

"No way," she said aloud.

And Selece, with Mako inside, soared into view.


	40. Darkness Core

Chapter forty… _Darkness Core_

Mako felt the resistance as his magic hit Cail full force; the Rune God of Darkness flew backwards and fell.

"Keilin! Are you alright?" Mako called, and he saw the Knight of Wind nod.

He intended to go to her, but before he had a chance to think, he was turning to face Li. The girl met his eyes fearfully.

"He's strong, Mako," she whispered. "I thought I was going to die."

The Water Knight shook his head. "You can't be afraid. All three of us are here now. We can beat him together, I'm sure of it."

Li nodded, although she looked less than convinced. Concerned, Mako started forward—and Selece held him back.

_Not now. You cannot go to her while you reside in your Rune Gods' hearts,_ he said simply, and then, _Be alert, Mako Keines. The enemy of this world approaches._

Mako cast a glance over his shoulder, then turned as the Rune God of Darkness slowly drew near again.

_Magic Knight of Water,_ Cail said evenly. _The one whose will alone is strong enough to counter even the strongest magic. Welcome._

Mako silently summoned a dirk into his hand.

_When last we spoke,_ Cail continued, _I believe I asked you about that very willpower. I wanted to know how a person like you could be an overcomer. Later, I had Stratus try to retrieve you so I could ask you again._

"Why?" Mako shot back. "So you could use it against Keilin?"

_Not against her, Water Knight,_ Cail answered. _I wanted to know how to help her incorporate her own willpower into her dark magic without the risk of losing her to the light. I wanted to make her invincible… almost immortal._

"We're not letting you have her," Mako replied.

_Then I will take her back by force,_ the Rune God said smoothly. _I will kill you, the Fire Knight, and the Pillar, and the three other Rune Gods will be thrown into suspended animation for all time. I will suppress light permanently in Cephiro, and Keilin and I will rule the land in darkness forever._

"I told you already!" Mako retorted. "Keilin belongs with us!"

He flung his knife; Cail raised his bubble shield, and the dirk bounced off of it, turning into a flash of blue light as it fell and rematerializing into its proper shape in Mako's hand once again.

"Watch out!" Li screamed, and just in time Mako lunged out of the way as a massive beam of dark energy shot at him.

As he turned back around, he heard the sound of two blades clashing; Cail was crossing swords with Windam so quickly that the weapons seemed blurred.

"_Flame Dagger!_" Li shouted, and a torrent of fire spewed from Rayearth's outstretched arms.

Cail did not even turn around, just shot upwards, and Keilin had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit by Li's magic.

"_Leviathan Blade!_" Mako directed his attack upwards; Cail again attempted to dodge, but the water dragon changed course and grazed him.

Keilin took the opportunity to soar forward with her sword again. She stretched the blade out, attempting to stab through the armor—

—and Cail caught the blade in his fist.

Keilin, startled, tried to tug away, but Cail quickly summoned energy to himself and shot it up through the weapon. The girl screamed as the attack went straight through her. Her sword vanished into her glove as she fell backwards.

"Keilin! No!" Li cried, turning her back to Cail to dive for her.

Cail's sword caught Rayearth directly between the shoulderblades, and to his horror, Mako saw blood gush from exactly the same place on Li's body. The Fire Knight screamed, long, hard—

"_W—Winds of Healing!_" Keilin managed from below. A strong gust of wind caught both girls and held them aloft, and almost immediately the enormous gash on Li's back closed.

Right then, Mako sensed movement behind him, and instinctively he dodged to his left. A blast of energy blazed through the air where he had just been.

He saw Cail circling around him, and he threw the knife in his hand, then another.

The Rune God of Darkness swatted both dirks away with his sword, then held the weapon in both hands and pointed it straight up. A circle of black energy collected on its tip.

"_Lapis Delu—_" Mako began, but the attack was cut short as Cail's dark magic exploded; it caught the Knight of Water off-guard, and he wildly tumbled backwards, his body feeling as though it had just been slammed through a brick wall.

_Crap, he __is__ strong,_ he thought as he drew in a breath, causing his chest to burn with pain. _If he can take on all three of us and barely get hit himself… how in the world are we supposed to beat him?_

"Mako!" Li's voice rang through the air. "Mako, _move!_"

A glint of light—and suddenly, the black mashin was flying straight at him, the double-edged blade shining as it extended, aiming right for Selece's chest—

"_Angel Wing!_" Another burst of air, white feathers swirling inside, caught the weapon and lifted it off-course, but Cail quickly dropped his shoulder and let his momentum slam him into Selece.

Mako felt the sharp pressure on his already bruised ribs, and he tried to scream, although that only made it worse.

Two red hands clamped onto Cail's shoulders; perfectly in sync, Li and Rayearth pried the Rune God off of Mako and Selece, and the Fire Knight drew back a fist to drive it home into Cail's body.

Cail caught Rayearth's arm and flipped him upside-down; Li cried out as she and her Rune God were flung down below, so hard and fast that she was out of sight almost immediately.

The Water Knight felt his eyes water in pain as he tried to breathe. _What if we can't…_

"Mako," came Keilin's quiet voice; Mako looked at her, and with eyes full of worry, she voiced the very question he himself had just been asking himself: "What if we can't defeat him?"

"We can't be afraid," the Water Knight insisted, but his voice shook a little as he said it.

_Whether or not you are afraid does not matter, Magic Knight,_ Cail said evenly. _There is more than enough fear in Cephiro to sustain me. I do not tire as you do. In fact…_ The mashin's sword vanished in a swirl of dark mist, and he oustretched his empty hands; spheres of black electricity gathered in his palms. _...my power is growing by the minute._

Mako summoned another knife into his hand and tried to throw it—but just as his arm came down for the release, his body froze, and Selece stopped dead.

Beside him, he heard Keilin give a small cry of fear; he tried to turn his head to look at her again, but found that he was frozen in place.

"Keilin?" he called, and she answered in terror, "I c-can't move!"

_It's your fear,_ Cail answered. The electricity in his hands was spiking out in all directions now as it continued to enlarge. _It's growing, just like my strength. I can now bend it to my will… even use it to immobilize you._

"No," Mako groaned, struggling and failing to move. "No! I won't… won't let you take Cephiro!"

_Cephiro is already mine, Water Knight,_ Cail answered coldly. _And soon, Keilin will be as well._

"Cail, _please!_" Keilin cried, her eyes overflowing.

The Rune God did not even acknowledge her; he drew back his arms, and the electricity gathered there began to arc into the open air—

—and in a whirl of flame, Rayearth exploded upwards from underneath him, tackling him full force.

"_LI!_" Mako screamed as the attack meant for him and Keilin instead bombarded the Knight of Fire—over the rush of releasing energy, the Water Knight could just hear her tortured cries—but she clung to Cail, weighing him down, hindering his movements—

Mako yelled as he poured his will into his body, and slowly at first, but then full speed, he moved himself forward.

Beside him, Keilin also regained her mobility, and together they raced to Li's side; Selece and Windam peeled Rayearth off of Cail, and the attack still searing the Rune God of Fire now traveled over them as well; Mako yelled in pain, and he could hear Keilin crying out as well, but they kept their hold, somehow managing to push away from the Rune God of Darkness.

Li was sobbing from the pain of the brunt of the attack; over her hunched form, Mako saw Keilin's body begin to go slack, as though she were about to pass out; she met his gaze and whispered, "I'm… I'm sorry, Mako… I don't think I can do this."

Immediately, Mako realized the edges of his vision were growing dark. _No,_ he thought desperately.

Cail's blurry form approached the three Magic Knights as they helplessly clung to each other. His gigantic sword was back in his hand.

Mako fought to stay conscious. _No… no, I have to stop him…_

With the last of his strength, he threw back his head and screamed, "_Selece, help me save this world!_"

"_Ray… Rayearth,_" Li choked out.

"_Windam,_" Keilin murmured.

And a light as bright as the sun exploded around the three Knights and their Rune Gods.

* * *

The compartment door slid open, and Hawk Vision quietly stepped into the room. "How is she, Banter?"

The High Mage glanced up at him, then returned his attention to the Pillar lying on the bed next to his chair. "Her wounds are extensive. It's a wonder she was still alive when we arrived."

"You know," Hawk said, his brow knitting with concern, "this ship's no hospital, but we've got a good stock of medical supplies on board. Just tell me what you need."

"Time," Banter answered softly. "Just some more time. I prefer to trust my healing magic over any other remedies."

Hawk gave a small, wry smile. "Just like you'd rather use your magic to fly than the biggest ship in the Autozam fleet? Times are changing, Banter. You don't have to be afraid of machinery any more than you have to fear these." He walked to a large metal storage unit, took a small stack of cloth bandages, and handed them to the mage.

Banter looked at them, then sighed. "Thank you." Gently, he lifted Ciela's head and began to wrap one around her forehead, over some of the largest gashes and abrasions.

The System Master pressed a button on the control panel by the doorway, and the window panel on the far wall blinked to life, showing the darkening sky.

"I know they're doing their best," he murmured, half to himself, "but I can't help but worry."

"I can sense Cailon's magic aura even from this distance," Banter said, determinedly keeping his eyes focused on his work as he bound some of the worst of Ciela's wounds. "It is strong… unbelievably strong."

"But… all three of the Knights should be able to take care of him," Hawk said, trying and failing to mask the anxiety in his tone.

"If they cannot," Banter said quietly, "Cephiro is lost already."

There was a moment of silence.

Suddenly, a light flared outside, so bright that both men had to shield their eyes; Hawk stumbled backwards and jabbed the same button on the control panel, and the window fell dark once more, obstructing the blinding brightness.

Blinking back the brightly colored spots dancing in front of their eyes, both the System Master and the High Mage looked at each other.

"What was that?" Hawk asked.

Banter's face had lost a little of its color. "I do not know."

* * *

Mako felt as though time had stopped.

He realized that his eyes were closed, but for the moment, he had no desire to open them. Instead, he focused on listening to the voices of the Rune Gods.

_Young ones,_ Rayearth said, _who cross the void between time and space._

_Those called to save this world,_ Windam added.

_Listen well, Magic Knights,_ Selece said. _You have proven your strength and the strength of your hearts time and again._

_We have added our own strength to yours,_ Windam continued.

_Now,_ said Rayearth, _you are at the end of that strength._

_This is it, Magic Knights,_ Selece went on. _This is the end of things. Has your resolve wavered at all? Or do you still wish with all your souls to preserve the world from the onslaught of darkness?_

"I'm not giving up now," Mako murmured aloud, his eyes still closed.

From somewhere nearby, Li's voice added, "With all my soul."

"I will never turn back," came Keilin's voice.

The three Rune Gods spoke together now: _Then join together as one, and draw upon each other's strength. Together, you can bring hope to this shattered world again._

Bringing hope to Cephiro…

Mako opened his eyes and found himself suspended in water, that pure, perfect water again… but something was different this time.

Orange-tinted light began to sparkle through, and he felt warmth wash over him—and then the water began to stir.

Water, Fire and Wind were coming together.

Without warning, the vision cleared; Mako saw Keilin on his left, Li on his right, drawing nearer.

He felt the three Rune Gods making contact, but he could not describe what was happening then; all he knew was that suddenly the girls were by his side, and as he stretched out his hand, they placed theirs on top of his—

—and suddenly it was finished, and the Knights understood… Selece, Rayearth, and Windam had joined together, and the three Knights now resided in the threefold heart of a single mashin.

The light around them faded, and time began to move again.

Cail appeared before them, clutching his enormous sword just a little tighter than he had been. Dark energy began to swirl around his entire form.

_Do not resort to such desperation, Magic Knights,_ he said._ Make another move_, _and I will destroy Cephiro rather than dominate it._

The power of the building attack was cold and harsh; it had formed a sphere around the black mashin now, and it was swelling larger by the second.

_The time to strike,_ the three other Rune Gods said in unison directly to the Knights' hearts, _is now!_

"This is it, guys," Li said.

Keilin nodded. "For Cephiro."

"Let's do this!" Mako said loudly, and he flew forward; the girls followed suit, perfectly matching his movements.

The combined Rune Gods raised their hands forward as the Knights within them outstetched their arms. Light appeared there, warm, clean, and powerful, and it streaked in all directions, forming a shield between the mashin and Cail's dark energy as they plunged into the heart of the mounting attack.

Even with this light, it was still freezing cold and too dark to see inside the sphere of energy. The pressure fluctuated wildly, and all three of them felt as though they were about to be crushed and ripped apart at the same time.

Mako heard Keilin gasp in pain, and he realized his own body was shaking with the effort needed to keep steady, but Li cried, "Everyone, hold on," and he steeled himself further.

Out of the darkness, Cail appeared. His sword was in his hand again, and he held it aloft, ready to swing it downward and fling his mass of energy at the broken world below. _This world will perish!_

"We're too late," Keilin moaned.

"No!" Li shot back. "This isn't over yet!"

Cail put a final additional burst of energy into his weapon. _Cephiro's blood is on your hands, Magic Knights!_

His blade descended—

"_NOW!_" Mako screamed.

In unison, the Magic Knights cried, "_Revolutionary Light Wave!_"

A blast of white light, larger in diameter than the combined mashin itself, exploded forward—the recoil almost knocked Mako backwards, and he saw Li and Keilin struggle to keep their balance as well—their attack seared through the darkness, disintegrating it—Cail raised his bubble shield, and almost immediately it was shattered with a _crack_ loud enough to make the Knights' ears ring—and the blast of light hit the Rune God of Darkness full force.

* * *

_Leave this world,_ Mako found himself thinking. _Leave Cephiro forever._

* * *

_The people of Cephiro have suffered so much,_ Li thought, her eyes watering slightly from the intensity of the light. _No more. We won't let this sort of despair overrun the world._

* * *

_Keilin?_

The Knight of Wind blinked in surprise, then tried to see through the light filling her eyes.

There. Cail, the mashin.

No… not a mashin any longer. He was as she remembered him now: a sandy-haired young man, reaching out an arm for her. His stormy gray eyes were wide with disbelief.

_Keilin?_

Keilin's vision blurred with tears. She wiped them away hurriedly.

_Why didn't you stop?_ she cried out to him in her heart. _Why did it have to come to this?_

_Keilin… please…_

The light had begun to swallow him, and he called out one more time: _Keilin!_

Then he was gone, and all the Knight of Wind could see was whiteness.

* * *

The High Mage's head snapped up, and his dark eyes grew wide.

"Hawk," he said cautiously.

Hawk had also sensed something; the mechanic's hands were clenched into fists, and his eyes traveled warily around the room. "Something just happened, Banter."

"The window, Hawk."

"They've either just saved the world, or they're dead."

"We'll know if we look outside."

"If they lost, we've only got a few minutes left before we're killed too."

"Hawk," Banter said, "open the window before I lose the nerve to look."

The mechanic took a deep breath, then hit the button on the control panel.

The window panel seemed to take hours to clear, but the moment it did, warm sunlight poured through, bathing both men and the Pillar in its glow.

Hawk Vision shook his head, and a wild grin spread across his face. "They did it. _They did it!_" He ran to the window panel and stared out. "The sky's blue again! Banter, look, it's the sun!" Unable to restrain himself, he began laughing uncontrollably. "They… _they did it!_"

Banter felt his eyes fill, and uncharacteristically, he made no attempt to blink the tears away. "Yes… they have won."


	41. Only the Beginning

Chapter forty-one… _Only the Beginning_

_Where am I? I know I'm somewhere. There's no such thing as nowhere… is there?_

Slowly, his consciousness rose, and Mako surfaced from beneath the sea of sleep.

_I'm so confused…_

"Mako Keines."

Still disoriented, Mako cast a glance all around him, searching for the speaker. The first thing he noticed as he did so was that his armor was gone; however, he was not dressed in his school uniform, but in soft white bedclothes. Next, he realized that he was lying in a four-poster bed in a completely unfamiliar room, spacious and fully furnished. Although he had no idea where he was, he suddenly felt at home here.

"Mako."

The voice was coming from his left. He turned to see Princess Ciela sitting in a chair that had been pulled up next to his bed. She had the yellowish remnants of a large bruise near her left temple, and a long, thin gash still ran down the other side of her face, but almost all of her other injuries had been entirely healed.

Mako struggled to sit up straighter, but she gently put a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. You don't have to strain yourself for the sake of formality."

Silently, Mako sank back into the down pillows propping him up.

The Pillar smiled at him. "You did it, Mako. Cail's consciousness has been utterly destroyed, and the manifestation of darkness has been suppressed. You saved us… you brought peace." Her voice choked, but she continued: "Thank you."

"What about Li and Keilin?" Mako asked.

"They are fine," Ciela answered, regaining control of her voice. "After you defeated Cail, your Rune Gods brought you back to the castle and then vanished. All three of you were unconscious, wounded, and wearing only the clothes in which you first arrived here… and these." She inclined her head towards his left hand; Mako looked down and saw that he was wearing his white, fingerless glove with the blue orb on the back. He had not noticed it before.

Ciela continued. "I had you brought to a lower level of the castle, which had not been harmed by Cail's attack. This was four days ago."

Mako's eyes widened in surprise. Then he understood, and he sighed. "Banter."

Ciela smiled at him again. "Yes, this was the High Mage's doing. All three of you had injuries so severe that he has spent the better part of this time healing each of you individually. The girls are together. When they wake, they will be taken care of. I had you placed in a separate room because I wanted to be able to speak with you once you came to."

For a split second, Mako could not understand what she meant. Then it came back to him: _You kept your promise… if I fell…_

He could not find his voice.

Ciela regarded him for a moment before continuing. "When first we met face-to-face, you asked me if I have ever been known by another name."

"Riuki," Mako murmured. "My sister."

"That was the name," Ciela said quietly, nodding. "And I told you that I am only the Pillar of this world. This is true, Knight of Water… I am only the Pillar of Cephiro now… but before that, I believe you knew me as _sister_."

Mako shot up straight once more, and he stared at the princess. "You _are_ Riuki?" he blurted. "Why didn't you tell me so before?"

Ciela's bright blue eyes grew somber for a moment. "It has been over eight hundred thirty years," she answered softly. "During that time, I have dedicated my attention to nothing but praying for the prosperity of this world. Mako Keines… I did not remember… I did not remember until I almost died."

Mako felt his own eyes filling; hurriedly, he wiped the tears away. "But how could you have been here for eight hundred years?" he asked. "I was with you when I was taken, and that was only a few weeks ago!"

"You heard it from the Rune Gods," the Pillar replied gently. "Windam said it to me when I carried him in my heart… _She who crosses the void between time and space._"

Mako realized instantly what this meant, and he felt his breath escape his lungs in a rush. "No way," he whispered.

Ciela continued. "Between your world and this one, there is no correlation between the systems of time. The two may flow in different directions, but even when they flow together, even a split second in one world could equal centuries in the other."

Mako felt his heart sink. "Then… then this means that we can't go home! Everyone we knew has been dead for ages—who knows if Japan even exists anymore? Or what if… what if no one we knew has even been born yet?"

Ciela shook her head. "Those are the extremes, Mako Keines. At many other times, the difference between the flows of time is very slight… and in some cases, it may be almost unnoticeable."

Trying to grasp all of this, Mako said slowly, "So this means that when we were at the Tower together, you were called into Cephiro right after I had turned away to look at something else… and to you, it was over eight hundred years, but to me, it was only a second or two before Keilin and Li and I were all called here too."

"Yes," the Pillar answered. "That is more or less correct."

"But…" Mako trailed off, still unable to understand all of this completely. The princess waited patiently until he could string a question together: "Why are you called Ciela now?"

The Pillar's brow furrowed a little, but then she nodded in comprehension. "You are right… this was not my name back then." To herself, she murmured, "Riuki," tasting the name.

"Who gave you the name Ciela?" Mako prompted.

The princess looked at him again. "I did."

Mako blinked. "But why?"

"After I became the Magic Knight of Wind," Ciela said, "I fought with Windam to preserve this land from the monsters that were spawned from the absence of a Pillar. However, it was well known that this quest would never end unless a new Pillar were found. Because the strength of my heart was flourishing due to my connection with Windam, I was the only candidate those in temporary leadership of the country could locate. I realized that I had three options: I could continue fighting forever, I could leave Cephiro and hope that my absence would reveal another candidate before the world was overrun by monsters… or I could become the Pillar."

She sat in silence for a moment, her eyes closed, perhaps reminiscing. "I had only been in Cephiro for a year or two, but already it had become like home to me," she continued finally. "I considered my choices carefully and decided that I would not leave Cephiro in the hands of fate. I would become the Pillar and support the world, even though it would cost me—in a certain sense—my life. In order to separate myself from the life I had known up until then, I rid myself of anything I had which tied me to my past… my few possessions from Earth… my name. I chose _Ciela_ because it stems from the word in the ancient runic language for _prayer._ Any written records with _Riuki_ found in them were changed, and as time went on, the people did not tell the younger generations my given name. Now… over eight centuries later… the only people who know this are you and myself." She smiled at him again, but there was a hint of sadness in her face as well. "My name now, Mako, is Ciela."

Mako felt his eyes beginning to mist again, and he forced the tears back. "All this time… all this time, I was searching for you, and I thought I'd found you, and now I've lost you all over again?"

"As long as you carry me in your heart, Mako, you have not lost me."

"You're… not coming home with me, are you?"

"My home is Cephiro."

Mako turned his face away as he began to lose the battle with the droplets in his eyes. "_Why?_"

Riuki's—no, Ciela's small hands clasped around his left hand, and even through the glove, he could feel their warmth.

"You made a promise that you would save this world," she said softly, gently. "I also made that same promise, but in a different way. Your job here is done. Mine is not. And so I will stay."

_I will stay._ Those words drove the final blow to Mako's heart, and he turned around sharply, pulling his sister into a tight embrace, just managing to stem the flow of tears threatening to spill over.

For a split second, Ciela was too startled to respond, but almost immediately her arms reached around his shoulders.

"It is good to see you again, Mako," she whispered.

* * *

The first thing Li realized when she woke up was that something was different.

Her surroundings were very different, of course—she was in an enormous four-poster bed in a completely unfamiliar bedroom. There was another bed to her left, but it was empty; the bedclothes were not straightened, however, and Li took this to mean that Keilin, the most logical choice for a roommate, had already gotten up. This, though, was not that nagging difference she was sensing.

It hit her then that her armor was gone, and the only thing that remained of her attire as a Magic Knight was the glove she had obtained on her first day in Cephiro.

_Rayearth,_ she thought desperately, shooting upright. _He didn't… he didn't go, did he?_

_No, young one,_ came the reply from her own heart. _I have simply taken up residence inside of you once more._

Li placed her hands over her heart, feeling the steady beat. _You're really still in here?_

_Yes,_ Rayearth replied. _However… it will be time for us to part ways very soon._

_Part ways?_ Li asked, shocked. _But why?_

_Your mission here is complete, young one,_ Rayearth answered, and his voice carried pride. _You were successful. Cail is gone. The darkness threatening Cephiro has been overpowered by the light of hope you have brought to it._

_Then… then that means… we're going home?_

_Yes… you will soon return to your own world. And we Rune Gods shall remain in ours to guard this newfound peace._

Li pressed her lips together, a rush of extreme joy and sorrow twisting together within her.

At that moment, a door creaked open, and High Mage Banter quietly entered the room.

Before the man even had a chance to speak a word, Li tossed back the covers on her enormous bed and ran to him, crying and laughing at the same time.

"We did it," she managed, "but Rayearth says we're leaving soon—we did it, but we're leaving—"

Banter caught her by the shoulders as she nearly barreled into him. He knelt down, lowering himself close to eye level with her.

"You just saved my world," he said quietly. "You brought peace to Cephiro." With a corner of the sleeve of his palace robes, he wiped the tears from her face. "Please do not cry, Lady… I do not want to see you sad so soon after this great victory."

It took Li a second or two to regain her composure, but once she had her tears under control, she found herself left with a smile.

"We did it," she said again, hardly daring to believe this herself.

* * *

Keilin felt her mouth hanging slightly open as she entered the massive bathroom connected to the bedroom she had shared with Li. That bedroom had been impressive enough, but this bathroom dwarfed it; it was easily vast enough to house fifty people comfortably, although for the moment she was the only occupant. In the middle of the floor was the bath, in-ground and circular, so large it could almost be called a pool. It was full already with very warm water, and two fluffy white towels had been placed besides it, along with both her and Li's everyday clothing, washed and neatly folded.

Although she was barefoot, her steps echoed slightly throughout the enormous room, magnified by the marble floors and walls. It almost sounded as if there were people, hidden out of sight, whispering to one another as she approached the water.

Keilin knelt by the side of the bath. She could feel the heat rising from the water. Its surface was perfectly smooth and glassy.

And there—her reflection in the water.

Keilin had always thought of her appearance as drab and unimpressive, but her reflection now was even worse. Her eyes looked slightly swollen and tired, and her hair needed to be washed and combed.

Instead of preparing to climb into the bath, however, she found herself staring at the water for a long time. It dawned on her that she was waiting for Cail's face to appear there.

Her breath caught in her chest as the memories of that last battle came rushing back to her in vivid detail. She ran her right hand through the water, sending ripples through the entire bath that disrupted the reflections, and stood up quickly.

_That's right,_ she thought. _We won. He's gone._

_That is correct, Magic Knight of Wind,_ came Windam's familiar voice.

Keilin cast a surprised glance around herself before understanding. _You are still with me?_

_I am._

Keilin sank back down to the floor, looking back to the water. It was still pulsing gently, and for a moment she wished she hadn't disturbed it.

_We won,_ she repeated, half to herself.

Windam's tone was sympathetic. _Your heart is heavy even now._

_Please,_ Keilin replied, _don't tell me I have to be happy._

_No one is forcing your emotions, Keilin,_ the Rune God said gently. _Although you have accomplished your task in this world, you did it at a great personal cost. It is only natural that you should feel grief._ He was silent for a moment, then continued, _You must remember, however, that you cannot dwell on that grief. Allow it to run its course, and then move on._

The girl nodded. _I understand._

At that moment, the door behind her slid open; she turned to see Li step inside and gaze around the bathroom in amazement as the redhead shut the door behind her.

"This place is incredible," she said, still taking in every glorious detail. "Banter just came in to check up on us, and he said you'd probably be in here already, but I would've been in here sooner too if I'd known this was what the bathroom was like."

Keilin found herself smiling. "Why don't you fill me in while we're getting cleaned up? I don't think I can wait another minute to wash off."

* * *

Mako impatiently cast another glance at the large oaken double doors on the far side of the room. _Geez,_ he thought. _How long could they possibly take? I was done getting washed and dressed ages ago._

As if she had read his mind, Ciela caught his eye and grinned. "Patience, Mako," she said gently. "It is only natural that they should take their time getting ready. They are girls, after all."

"Yeah, I know that, but…" The Water Knight trailed off, staring at the enormous banquet spread over the gargantuan table at which he, the Pillar, High Mage Banter, Hawk Vision, and Mokona were all sitting. The luscious scents of all this food were about to drive him mad. Valiantly trying to ignore the hunger pangs dancing in his stomach, he looked back at Ciela. "I'm starving."

There was a rustle of cloth and a sharp _slap,_ and Mako and Ciela both turned their heads to see Hawk Vision gingerly rubbing his hand and glaring at the mage.

Banter returned his dark looks. "You will not touch anything until the other two Knights arrive," he scolded, folding his arms once more.

"But _he's_ already started eating," Hawk protested, jabbing an accusing finger in Mokona's direction.

The guide gave a muffled shriek of denial, which would have been much more convincing if his mouth weren't full.

Banter sighed heavily and muttered something under his breath.

Sensing that provoking the mage further would provide sufficient entertainment to keep his mind off of all the food, Mako was just about to ask the mage to repeat whatever impolite statement he had just made when the doors on the other side of the room creaked open.

Li shyly poked her head through, then looked behind her and motioned for Keilin to follow. The girls slipped into the room almost silently, as if they weren't sure whether or not they were supposed to enter.

All thoughts of eating left Mako's mind, and he stood, then began making his way over to them, barely able to restrain himself from breaking into a run.

He embraced Keilin first, noting how warm she felt and how her eyes had gained a genuine sparkle. Her hair was still very slightly damp, but more than her hair or her clothes, something else about her seemed clean… seemed _right_. It was as if a missing piece of herself had been restored.

He had barely let her go when Li darted into his arms, clinging to him tightly, as though afraid he would disappear if she let him slip.

Mako put his arms around her and gave her a very gentle, reassuring squeeze. Her embrace grew less tense, but she did not let him go right away.

As he held her, etching every detail into his memory, he caught the scent of the soap she had been using, fresh and floral. When she finally released him and pulled back, that light fragrance stayed on his clothes.

"Congratulations, Mako," Li said softly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "You just saved the world."

The Water Knight held her gaze, then broke it and looked back at Keilin. He shook his head. "_We_ saved the world."

The blonde smiled, her own eyes brimming but bright.

Mako turned his head back to Li and gently grabbed her hand. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go eat."

* * *

The meal was extremely enjoyable, but all Keilin would remember about that time was the company and the conversations.

She took her seat between Li and the High Mage and greeted Mokona as he excitedly dove into her arms. In almost no time at all, the entire party was eating, talking, laughing. And for the first time in years, Keilin was a part of it all.

As the time passed, though, she found herself growing silent again, and although her smile was genuine, a terrible sorrow welled up inside of her.

They were going back to their own world soon.

For Mako and Li, this would be a bittersweet parting. They were leaving Cephiro behind and going back to the lives which they had always known: family, friends, school, _home_.

Keilin was leaving Cephiro and returning to hell.

She had only been in this world for a few weeks, but it already had a special place in her heart. This country had taught her more about herself than she could have ever imagined knowing. This country had taken her though enormous hardships and grown her into a young woman of strength. This country had blessed her with friends and had planted seeds of hope in her heart.

The thought of leaving Cephiro was almost unbearable.

Among the other voices all around her, Keilin suddenly became aware of one gentle laugh, and her attention shifted momentarily to Princess Ciela, engaged in an apparently amusing conversation with Mako.

Demonstrating her near-omniscient sensitivity to the hearts of others, the Pillar made eye contact with the Knight of Wind, smiled tenderly, and then returned her attention to Mako, all within the course of a second or two.

Within Keilin's heart, Windam stirred. _She wishes you strength, young one._

Keilin busied herself with the remains of her meal to grant herself a moment of privacy with her Rune God. _Are you in her heart too?_

_Not anymore. I reside within you now. But I spent enough time with the Pillar to know her heart._

_What will happen to you and Selece and Rayearth when we return to Earth?_ Keilin asked silently.

_We will return to our Shrines,_ the Rune God answered. _From there we will continue to watch over this land, guarding the peace you brought._

The pangs of sorrow in Keilin's heart intensified. _I wish I'd had more time to get to know you, Windam._

_Perhaps,_ he answered, _there will be time in the future._

* * *

Hours had passed, but Mako, Li, and Keilin felt as though they had just sat down at the table when they suddenly found themselves standing with the rest of the group outdoors, underneath the shade of a large, leafy tree laden with blossoms. The fresh scent of earth, grass, flowers, and clean air swirled together in the slight breeze, and the sun shone its hardest, making the world sparkle.

"There is still much to be done," Ciela said to the three of them, "but I wanted to show you what you have done for us. You have returned Cephiro to its glory. And we will rebuild. In the memory of those who perished, we will make a new future for our people."

"We can stay and help," Li offered hopefully. "Your castle, the cities and towns, they could use the extra hands, couldn't they?"

The Pillar smiled gently. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Knight of Fire," she replied, "but your task here is done. It is better if you return to your world."

Li looked back out to the landscape, the forests, the distant islands in the sky, the mountain range so far away that it seemed to disappear with the horizon. "I just… I just don't want to say goodbye just yet."

Mako knew exactly how she felt. "Will we ever get the chance to return to Cephiro?"

Ciela looked thoughtful. "I would not be surprised," she said slowly, "if one day you found your way back." Her bright blue eyes met his.

Mako held her gaze. "Will I see you again?"

"Remember what I told you," she answered. "Carry me in your heart, and you have not lost me."

Li and Keilin glanced at Mako quizically, but he felt no rush to explain things just yet. He took a few steps towards the Pillar and embraced her tightly.

"I'm going to miss you," he whispered.

For a split second, it was as if nothing had changed. He and his sister were together again, and his arms had not forgotten the feel of her frame in his arms.

When they broke apart, however, the illusion vanished: Riuki was gone, and now there was only Ciela, so alike and yet so very different from the girl he had known.

The Pillar looked up at him again. "I will miss you as well," she whispered.

Her eyes were shining—tears, perhaps? But before Mako could tell, she had turned away from him. Her long robes rustled in the sweet grass as she swept over to where the High Mage and Hawk Vision were standing.

Li hurried to Banter and wrapped her arms around his waist, which was almost as high as she was able to reach without stretching upward; he stood head and shoulders above her.

Mako and Keilin had both said their goodbyes to Hawk Vision and to Mokona before Li let the mage go, and although Banter looked slightly exasperated, Mako swore he saw the mage's expression soften as he returned her embrace.

As the last few rounds of farewells were being said, the Water Knight closed his eyes for just a moment and spoke silently. _Selece, thank you for fighting with us._

_Becoming one with a heart such as yours was an honor, Mako Keines._

The comment took Mako slightly aback. After a moment of wordless stammering, he said, _Goodbye._

A sudden shout of "Whoa there!" from Hawk Vision caught his attention, and his head snapped up.

Keilin had fallen to her knees, her shoulders heaving as she fought to repress a violent storm of tears. The System Master stooped beside her, offering his hand to help her stand, but although she grasped it tightly, she could not rise.

Princess Ciela knelt down and took the Knight of Wind in her arms, holding her tightly and silently as Keilin choked back a wordless cry. After a minute or so, the blonde managed, "I don't want to go back, I don't _ever_ want to go back to where I came from!"

For a split second, Mako remembered the small glimpses into her memory he had experienced, and his heart sank. Keilin might be going back to Japan, but she wasn't going _home_.

Beside him, Li looked as if she were thinking along those same lines. Her face had grown unusually solemn.

Keilin continued speaking to Ciela, her words hushed and quick; she sounded desperate. "Please, please, don't send me back there, let me stay, can't you let me stay here?"

"Keilin," Ciela said softly, and her voice sounded pained. "You have no further task left here."

"But why can't I stay? Please, there has to be _something_ I can still do—"

"I am sorry, Keilin, but—"

"No! No, please, don't make me leave Cephiro!"

"You must understand—"

"Hawk, _please!_" Keilin cried, interrupting Ciela and turning her head sharply to the man whose hand she still held. "Tell her to let me stay!"

Mako was startled to see Hawk's eyes fill. "Aw, Keilin," the mechanic managed after a moment, "I want to… but if Ciela says you need to go, then…" He trailed off, as if he didn't have the heart to finish, and simply shook his head.

Almost frantically, Keilin turned back to the Pillar. "You don't understand! I can't go back there! Please, _please—_"

"Princess."

The one word, spoken in Banter's deep baritone, was enough to swivel every other head in his direction.

The mage was standing straight and tall, his arms folded as always, but his dark eyes, normally stern, were now soft with sympathy. His voice was quiet as he continued: "We lost many good men in our forces when the monsters surged almost out of control. The captain of your castle guard was one. We need someone who can help us organize and rebuild our defense so that Cephiro is safe from invasion by outlying countries while we repair the damages here. Would it not be better for us all if a Magic Knight _were_ to stay with us?"

Keilin's eyes grew wide, and she glanced at Ciela with a wild sort of hope dawning on her face.

Hawk Vision uncertainly opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally added, "I'm still gonna stick with what you decide, Princess, but if I can voice my own opinion here, I think Banter's right."

Ciela was silent for a long time. Finally, almost in a whisper, she said, "Of course… this must have been what I foresaw…"

Her blue eyes met Keilin's gray ones. "'Only two Knights will leave Cephiro'," she quoted. "At the time, I believed it meant you were to die… but you chose light, chose life... Knight of Wind, I understand now—you were never meant to die; you were meant for this world."

For a split second, Keilin looked as if she did not believe her. "I… I can stay?" she managed.

Ciela, though she held the blonde's gaze, seemed to lose herself in thought once more. Finally, she nodded once. "Welcome home, Keilin."

Keilin bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut; her entire body was trembling. "Th… thank you," she whispered.

Li knelt down beside her and put her arms around Keilin's shoulders. For a moment, she did not speak. Then, with a slight tremor in her voice, she said, "I'm so glad for you, Kei… I'm really going to miss you, but I'm _so_ glad for you.."

Keilin did not answer, just turned and embraced the Fire Knight.

Mako joined them, wrapping his arms as far around both girls as he could reach. "Same here, Keilin. And welcome home."

Keilin's hand found his and squeezed it tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you both… so much."

The three of them continued to hold each other for some time, but when they had finally broken apart and helped each other stand back up, Li immediately turned to the Pillar. "But what will happen in our world when Keilin just doesn't come back?"

Her question startled Mako. What _was_ going to happen? For that matter, what would happen when Riuki herself did not come home? Their family, her friends, her classmates and teachers would all notice that she had vanished.

This did not seem to worry Ciela. Warmly, she answered Li, "I will remove Keilin from your world. Memories, images, anything that would alert anyone to her absence will be erased."

Li's mouth dropped open. "What—no! You mean after all this—after all the three of us went through together—we're just going to forget her?"

"And what about you?" Mako asked her, stunned. "You're planning on erasing yourself from our world too, aren't you? Everyone back home is going to forget you too!"

"It will be as if neither Keilin nor I ever existed in your world," Ciela answered gently. "Believe me, this is the easiest route for everyone."

Mako felt his heart sink. "But—but you said I wouldn't lose you! If I don't even have the memory of you…" He trailed off, then immediately finished, "If I don't even have that, then what do I have left?"

"I have no intention of removing Keilin or myself from your memory, Mako."

Mako pressed his lips together; he didn't trust himself to speak.

Ciela's face softened a little more than it had been. "You and I were reunited by chance," she continued quietly, "but there was a purpose behind it. We were not meant to forget each other. Keep me in your heart, Knight of Water, and although Cephiro is above all else to me, you will be in my heart as well."

Mako simply nodded.

Li stared at him, her brows furrowed. "Did I miss something?"

"No," he answered softly. "I'll explain later, I promise."

Li did not seem satisfied with this, but she did not press further. She turned to Ciela. "I don't know exactly what's going on," she said, "but I don't want to forget you or Keilin either. I don't want to forget any of this. I don't want to lose Cephiro."

"You have no cause to worry," the Pillar replied. "Your memories are your own."

Li's eyes misted, and she hurriedly wiped them with the back of her hand. "Thank you," she said quietly, and Mako distinctly heard her voice break slightly. He grabbed her hands in both of his.

"We won't forget," he told her as she met his gaze. "Everyone else will, but we'll remember together. All of this will be with us forever."

"Yeah," she whispered. "We'll always have this."

Still holding hands, they looked back towards the rest of the group, and after a moment, Mako said, "Ciela… I think we're ready."

Two tears spilled from the Pillar's eyes, but she smiled. "Then goodbye, Mako Keines, Magic Knight of Water. Goodbye, Li Kimoi, Magic Knight of Fire. And thank you… thank you _so much_ for all you've done."

She raised both her arms to the sky, and immediately Mako and Li were lifted into the air.

Mokona, Banter, Hawk Vision, and Keilin waved at them as they continued to rise. Slowly at first but then quickly gaining speed, Mako and Li ascended higher, waving back until those below them were no longer visible. Then their hands found each other once again, and they closed their eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun as its light grew brighter, piercing their eyelids and immersing them in its glow.

* * *

Voices swirled together as soft air suddenly turned solid beneath Mako's feet. Feeling as though he were waking up from a pleasant dream, he opened his eyes.

He was standing in the middle of a large, milling crowd of people, none of whom seemed to notice him. For some reason, it all seemed strange and surreal. _Am I dreaming?_

"Mako." This hushed voice belonged to Li, and with a start he realized she was still gripping his right hand tightly. "Mako, quick, _look over that way!_"

He glanced over and saw her impatiently jerk her head to the right. Looking past her, he saw something that made him almost certain he was dreaming: he was staring at himself, leaning against the railing of a balcony, and Riuki was beside him, absorbing the view of the city below like a sponge.

"What _is_ this?" he asked Li.

"We're… we're home," she answered almost dazedly. "But we're home a few seconds before we even left."

"What?" Mako asked, but Li nudged him and again inclined her head towards the railing. "Look! There's you and your sister, and there's me off to your right… and I think I just saw Keilin—yeah—but she just walked out of sight."

"Li, what is going on?" Mako asked. "Why are we here and over there too?"

"Look around, Mako," the redhead answered. "We're back in Tokyo Tower on the same day we left it!"

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know!"

Reality hit him then, and he looked back at the railing in shock. "Of course—Cephiro and our world have different flows of time, so this means that time had started flowing backwards when Ciela sent us back home! That _is_ us—that's the us from the past! And that means…"

"Means what?" Li asked, but Mako shook his head. "Just watch," he said.

And at that very moment, Riuki Keines' bright blue eyes grew wide in shock, and she vanished in a brief burst of light.

"She was summoned to Cephiro," Mako whispered, half to himself. "So that means…"

Another light flashed then, so bright that the crowd around them turned away as one and shielded their eyes, but Mako and Li simply watched as their past selves faded away into thin air.

"We were just taken," Li said as the light died away.

Immediately, talk exploded around them: "What _was_ that?"

"I saw it, I saw it, but it's gone now!"

"Ow! That was so bright it hurt!"

"Did anyone else see that flash of light?"

"Weird!"

The crowd pushed forward to the balcony, curiously gazing out to the city below, unaware of the three people who had just vanished—the one who had left this world forever and the two who had returned twenty seconds before they had even left.

"Wait a second," Li said slowly, turning to Mako. "If time flows differently between Cephiro and here… and your sister was just summoned… then Ciela…" She trailed off for a second, and then her eyes grew wide. She clapped a hand to her mouth. "Ciela really _was_ your sister!"

"She was," Mako said, then corrected himself: "She is."

Li seemed at a loss for words. She stared over the heads of the people in front of them to the sky.

"We didn't just dream all that, did we?"

"No. We didn't."

"And we're not dreaming now, are we?"

"No."

"I can't…" Li wiped at her eyes with her right hand, then continued, "I can't believe we're back home."

Mako released her left hand and pulled her tightly against himself. "You don't have to cry."

"I miss it already," she whispered into his shoulder. "It seems like we'd just gotten there, and suddenly it's all over."

"I miss it too," Mako murmured back. "But Li… it isn't over. For you, or for me, or for Keilin or Banter or Ciela or anyone else. It isn't over. It's only the beginning."

"The beginning of what?"

"A new world, new lives… new futures."

Li was quiet for a moment. "I don't want things to go back to normal," she said presently.

Mako held her for just a second longer, then placed both his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back. Looking her in the eye, he asked, "Who says they have to?"

She laughed once, then dried her eyes again.

Mako took her hand. "Come on," he said, beginning to lead her toward an empty space at the railing. "It's no Cephiro… but we have an entire world to explore right here."


End file.
